SAN JOSE, CA - Sanmina-SCI Corp. reported a sharp drop in first-quarter earnings, partially because of weakness in the PC market, but company officials said the company had met performance objectives, demonstrating "solid profitability."

The company, which operates a PCB plant in Owego, NY, reported net income for the first quarter, ending Dec. 29, of $7.9 million compared with a year-ago profit of $28.2 million, a decrease of 28%.

Revenue fell 9% to $2.53 billion, from $2.78 billion in the same quarter a year ago.

The company's core business met expectations with revenue of $1.79 billion, but the PC business delivered lower-than-expected sales of $740 million.

Sanmina-SCI officials said its PCB business achieved its performance objectives and is poised to grow, despite the industry-wide struggles that hurt quarterly earnings.

"Our second quarter has historically been seasonally down, but we are cautiously optimistic about our outlook based on what we currently have in the pipeline from new and existing customers," company CEO Jure Sola said. "We expect to continue to strengthen our results, improve profitability and generate free cash flow throughout fiscal 2008."

Revenue in the second quarter, ending March 29, is expected to range from $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion, the company said.