CARCLO
Improved trading conditions in H2 / Conductive inkjet technology film sales lower than expected in Q4
Technology-led plastics group Carclo (Ossett, West Yorkshire / UK; www.carclo.co.uk) said trading conditions improved in the second half of its financial year but warned that film sales in the conductive inkjet technology division would be lower than expected in the fourth quarter.
The company said it is benefiting from a better H2 trading performance in the year to 31 March, despite weakening demand in the technical plastics division in December. “In technical plastics, demand from a number of customers weakened in December and was slow to recover in January,” it stated. “Schedules have now returned to normal and February has started well.”
In the LED technologies division the Wipac supercar lighting business has had a good start to the fourth quarter, while the precision engineering division continues to perform well, Carclo added.
The conductive inkjet technology division, however, has suffered delays in the commercialisation by Atmel Corp (San Jose, California / USA; www.atmel.com), a supplier of semiconductor integrated circuits for use in computing and telecommunications, of “XSense” touch sensors. The sensors are based on Carclo’s "fine line technology".
After announcing in December that shipments of the sensors had exceeded the minimum volume threshold specified in its agreement with Atmel, Carclo said there have been delays in the Atmel-managed downstream supply chain caused by manufacturing issues. However, those issues “have now been largely resolved and all parties are confident that the production ramp-up will commence shortly”, it said. “The USD 10.0m (EUR 7.5m) prepayment has been triggered but will not be received until full-scale production resumes and Atmel has invoiced its customer.”
Carclo said validation of the Atmel US XSense touch sensors facility is imminent but not yet complete, and as a result Q4 film sales in the conductive inkjet technology division will be lower than expected. Atmel is planning further increases in manufacturing capacity in the second half of 2013, Carclo added.
The company said it is benefiting from a better H2 trading performance in the year to 31 March, despite weakening demand in the technical plastics division in December. “In technical plastics, demand from a number of customers weakened in December and was slow to recover in January,” it stated. “Schedules have now returned to normal and February has started well.”
In the LED technologies division the Wipac supercar lighting business has had a good start to the fourth quarter, while the precision engineering division continues to perform well, Carclo added.
The conductive inkjet technology division, however, has suffered delays in the commercialisation by Atmel Corp (San Jose, California / USA; www.atmel.com), a supplier of semiconductor integrated circuits for use in computing and telecommunications, of “XSense” touch sensors. The sensors are based on Carclo’s "fine line technology".
After announcing in December that shipments of the sensors had exceeded the minimum volume threshold specified in its agreement with Atmel, Carclo said there have been delays in the Atmel-managed downstream supply chain caused by manufacturing issues. However, those issues “have now been largely resolved and all parties are confident that the production ramp-up will commence shortly”, it said. “The USD 10.0m (EUR 7.5m) prepayment has been triggered but will not be received until full-scale production resumes and Atmel has invoiced its customer.”
Carclo said validation of the Atmel US XSense touch sensors facility is imminent but not yet complete, and as a result Q4 film sales in the conductive inkjet technology division will be lower than expected. Atmel is planning further increases in manufacturing capacity in the second half of 2013, Carclo added.
13.02.2013 Plasteurope.com [224556-0]
Published on 13.02.2013