Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine - News

News

ROGERS, CT -- Rogers Corporation announced Q2 2008 sales of $97.7 million. The Q2 2007 sales were $97.9 million.

Printed circuit laminate sales for Q2 2008 were $29.5 million, down approximately 12% from Q2 2007. High frequency materials experienced weaker demand in low noise block down converters (LNB’s) for the Satellite TV market and in chip packaging materials for a large customer.

Rogers continued to see strength in the high reliability markets for its high frequency advanced circuit material products in radar and guidance system devices.

Rogers is expanding manufacturing capacity of high frequency advanced circuit materials on its Suzhou, China campus. This new facility is anticipated to be in production in 2010.

Rogers’ president and CEO Robert D. Wachob commented; “Second quarter results were in line with expectations and even though year-over-year quarterly sales were basically constant, we did significantly better on the bottom line this quarter. Rogers is debt-free with strong cash flow and profits and is developing many new products to meet the growing needs of our customers. As a result, I believe we are well positioned to meet the challenges that lie ahead.”

LONDON — The Cookson Group's first-half profits rose 30% to $225 million on a 26% jump in revenues to $2.1 billion.

The electronics group reported profits of $60 million, up 2%, year-over-year on an 11% hike in sales to $640 million. However, the higher revenue was driven by extreme price inflation for tin and silver used in solder. Excluding the inflation impact and sales of precious metals related products in the chemistry product line, underlying revenue fell 1% from last year.

All figures are based on constant exchange rates.

Cookson attributed the drop in revenue to a slowdown in electronics equipment production, particularly in the US, and a decision to focus on higher margin, more value-added product lines.

The company benefited from a new factory in Monterrey, Mexico, and demand for its scrap solder recycling operation in the US. A second recycling plant, in Guangxi Province, China, is expected to come online later this year. Cookson is also moving its European solder paste production from Ashford, England, to Hungary; the transfer should be complete by early next year and will save the company about $2 million annually.