Bookham slumps to $23 million net loss
Optical component and module manufacturer Bookham posted a net loss of $22.9 million for the financial quarter that ended on September 30, as recent revenue growth appeared to stall.
Sales of $56.4 million were up very slightly (from $55 million) on a sequential basis, but down from the $62.6 million that Bookham recorded during the same period last year as revenue from leading customer Nortel continued to wind down.
The good news for Bookham is that its non-Nortel customers are buying more of its products. For example, Cisco Systems, one of the leading optical networking system vendors, accounted for $7.3 million of Bookham's sales in the latest quarter - a sequential rise of nearly 50 per cent.
Bookham's non-telecom revenue also grew strongly, with sales from its industrial laser business up 14 per cent on the prior quarter at $11.6 million.
CEO Giorgio Anania said that the company, which makes its high-power lasers for industrial use in Zurich, Switzerland, and its InP-based telecommunications lasers in Caswell, UK, was receiving a lot of interest in its tunable laser products.
But despite Anania's reassurance that he anticipated no let-up in customer demand, investors reacted negatively to his projection of only very slight revenue growth in the current quarter.
Anania estimated that the three months ending on December 30 this year will generate $56 million-$59 million in revenue, with any future profitability still appearing to be a long way off.
Bookham shares dropped by around 12 per cent after Bookham announced the financial results.
