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TAIWAN – The second quarter is typically slow for consumer electronics, but PCB fabricators are seeing signs that the demand for handsets PCBs is up slightly in Q2 based on stronger sales in June.

MIGDAL HAEMEK, ISRAEL - Camtek has announced its financial results for the first quarter ending March 31.

TAIWAN - Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. earned net income of $525 million for the first quarter of the year, down 39.4% from a quarter earlier, although up 2.85% from the same period of last year.

The company had revenue of $10 billion last quarter, down 27.1% from the previous quarter but ahead 22.25% over the same period last year.

Hon Hai representatives said that the lower earnings were a result of typical first quarter market slowdown and a sluggish global economy, but that results for the first quarter were basically in line with expectations.

Industry reports speculate that the company will begin rebounding this quarter, on anticipated orders from Apple, IBM a nd HP.

The company also reportedly earned $1.5 million from currency exchange in Q1.

SHELTON, CT – The consumer and business media audit organization BPA has released a report showing strong growth in the worldwide flexible circuit market.

YAVNE, ISRAEL - Orbotech has reported that its Q1 profits fell 34%.

WASHINGTON – After losing several appeals, the National Association of Manufacturers released the names of 65 companies that provided significant funding to the trade group for first-quarter lobbying activities.

NAM tried to keep the names secret, but ultimately lost an appeal to the Supreme Court for a stay against disclosing the names. A new lobbying law requires trade groups and coalitions to divulge names of members that give more than $5,000 in a quarter for lobbying activities. The failure to comply was $250,000 in fines and up to five years in prison.

In its April 30 amended report, NAM provided a Web site link to funders’ list. It also revealed first-quarter lobbying expenditures of more than $2.2 million.

Donors included the American Petroleum Institute, AT&T Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Northrop Grumman, Clorox and U.S. Steel, among others. Individual contributions or their specific lobbying activities are not specified.

In the first quarter, the group lobbied patent reform, taxes, trade agreements, climate change, energy-related legislation, transportation, tort reform, high-speed Internet deployment, health and immigration reform.

NAM lobbied Congress, White House, U.S. Trade Representative's office and the Defense, Treasury and Commerce departments, among many others.

NAM, with about 11,000 members, filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the lobbying law, and is still appealing an April 11 decision by a federal judge who rejected its argument that a provision violates First Amendment rights.

A federal appeals court and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected the group's requests for stays.