Fairchild Semiconductor International Corp. (South Portland, ME) reported first-quarter revenues that were four percent higher than the previous quarter, but down 13 percent year-over-year. Sales for the quarter were $336.9 million, compared with $324.6 million in the fourth quarter and $367.8 million a year ago. First-quarter gross margins were about 24 percent. Bookings were 28 percent higher than the fourth quarter, and the company’s overall book-to-bill ratio was 1.3:1, and was above 1:1 in all of its major end-markets.
Net income totaled $2.7 million, or $0.03 per diluted share. During the quarter, Fairchild had unusual gains totaling $15.2 million, including a $20.5 million gain on the sale of the company's military and space-related discrete power product line to International Rectifier Corp. (El Segundo, CA), and $5.3 million in charges associated with severance costs and purchased in-process research and development. For the fourth quarter, the company reported a net loss of $16.2 million. Net income a year ago totaled $1.6 million. The company’s pro-forma net loss, which doesn’t include gains or charges, was $1.1 million, or $0.01 per share.
"Our business turned the corner about six months ago and began to accelerate midway through the first quarter," said President, CEO and Chairman Kirk Pond. "While our strongest orders continued to be from computing and consumer markets, we saw healthy rebounds in demand from industrial and power supply markets and continued to see bookings' recovery in our communications end-markets. Through the last two years we’ve accelerated our design activity by focusing on power and interface applications, and increased our silicon content in computers, power supplies, digital consumer products, displays, optical drives, cellular handsets and automotive ignition devices."
