Bookham improves revenue and cuts losses
The company s cash burn was £11.8 million for the quarter, down 14% sequentially as a result of Bookham s continued cost reduction measures.
Net loss for the September, excluding restructuring charges, was £13.5 million, compared to a loss of £13.7 million in the June quarter.
For the September quarter, sales to Marconi and Nortel Networks were 58% and 10% of sales respectively. Sales to Marconi were up 17% and sales to non-Marconi customers were down 6%.
The company hopes to gain shareholder approval for its proposed acquisition of Nortel s optical transmitter and receiver business and optical amplifier business on November 5. As part of the deal, Nortel has agreed to enter into a $120 million supply agreement with Bookham.
DWDM products accounted for 60% of Bookham s revenue, with the remainder coming from active products.
"The third quarter was a good quarter, notwithstanding the difficult market environment," said Giorgio Anania, president and CEO of Bookham. "The acquisition of Nortel s components business, if approved, will put us in a key leadership position as an independent, broad-line supplier of optical components to leading optical systems companies."
Bookham s key planning priorities, said Anania, are rapid integration of the two companies, and a strong customer push to achieve continued sales growth.
Assuming the Nortel deal goes ahead, Bookham expects that its revenue will increase by at least 50% sequentially in the December quarter, and then will approximately double from the December quarter to the March 2003 quarter.
However, Bookham said that its cash burn will increase in the fourth quarter due to costs related to the Nortel deal. Analysts have labeled the acquisition a "massive gamble" given the huge restructuring costs involved and the poor long-term outlook for the industry.
