Cash in hand concern for Spansion

http://www.fabtech.org/news/_a/cash_in_hand_concern_for_spansion/


Loss making NOR flash memory market leader, Spansion Inc is facing growing concerns over its liquidity status with credit ratings specialist, Fitch Ratings, lowering its view on approximately US$1.3 billion of debt to a ‘negative’ outlook. Fitch noted that Spansion’s total debts were US$1.6 billion.

Rumours have circulated that the NOR flash manufacturer is considering bankruptcy and is claimed to have extended a production shutdown at its 200mm fab in Austin, Texas to preserve cash and reduce inventories.

Fitch said that it expects Spansion to post lower gross profits in 2009 that keep the company in the red, despite its aggressive cost cutting measures, highlighting the need to raise funds as well as renegotiate loan agreements.

Regarding insolvency, Fitch currently believes that creditors would be better served if Spansion went into receivership as a going concern rather than entered liquidation under a distressed scenario. However, Fitch saw the difference between the two scenarios for creditors as diminishing.

Fitch, calculates that Spansion has approximately US$152 million of cash and cash equivalents and approximately US$100 million of availability under various credit facilities at the end of the third quarter, 2008. Spansion has approximately US$125 million of debt amortization and approximately US$60 million in capital leases that would need to be paid, through the end of 2009.

Coupled to estimated cash burn and the possible downward revision to revenue as market conditions could worsen, Fitch didn’t rule out further credit rating cuts on Spansion.

The clock is ticking for Spansion

http://www.eetindia.co.in/ART_8800559602_1800007_NT_a47192dd.HTM

The clock is ticking for Spansion

Posted: 13 Jan 2009


Is time running out on Spansion Inc.?
Amid a string of losses, declining funds and a major economic downturn, NOR-flash leader Spansion has implemented another round of cost-cutting measures. Rumors are also running rampant that Spansion is mulling a plan to file Chapter 11 protection of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Regarding the possiblity of filing Chapter 11, a spokeswoman for Spansion said: ''We do not comment or speculate on rumours.''

At one time, there were other rumours about Spansion, including a report that Japan's Toshiba Corp. would acquire the company. Sources believe that Spansion and Toshiba were close to signing a deal, but the acquisition was reportedly put on the back burner.

Indeed, it's been a rough time for Spansion, the world's leading supplier of NOR flash memory. Recently, Spansion reported a loss for the third quarter of Rs.593.93 crore ($118.7 million) on revenue of Rs.3,157.30 crore ($631 million). During the third quarter, the company imposed salary reductions, cut capital spending, frooze headcount and cut research and development projects.

In November, the company became the latest semiconductor supplier to issue a warning about revenue in the current quarter, saying it expected fourth quarter net sales to be down about 20 per cent sequentially. Last month, Spansion closed its fab in Austin, Texas, for two weeks during the fourth quarter in anticipation of a weak holiday season and deteriorating macroeconomics,

Faced with an uncertain future, Spansion confirmed that it is also implementing another round of cost-cutting moves. Pay was cut 20 per cent across the board in December; hours were cut 20 per cent as well, sources said.

''Varying degrees of salary reductions were implemented as early as October 2008. Schedule changes were implemented beginning the first pay period of 2009. These actions have been implemented as part of a larger global cost cutting strategy to help better position Spansion to weather the storm during the economic downturn,'' the spokeswoman said.

Still, employees were called to tell them they were furlowed for this week without pay. Today, the furlow was extended for another 2 weeks—mandatory—without pay.

''We realise this comes at a difficult time, but Spansion has decided to extend its furlough through January across parts of the company. This decision is part of a part of a broader initiative to reduce operating expenses and help align manufacturing output with customer demand,'' the spokeswoman said.

Spansion is also telling employees it has enough product for customers to last for three weeks. As a result, manufacturing runs have halted at the firm.

''As a result of the continuing deterioration of the macroeconomic environment, which has resulted in decreased customer demand for flash memory, Spansion has decided to temporarily shutdown its manufacturing facilities for periods in January. This decision is part of a larger strategy to help align manufacturing output with customer demand,'' the spokeswoman said.

Bas Kilang/ Van Kilang ....

News Link  http://www.kwongwah.com.my/news/2009/01/13/2.html

What happen in Jalan Tengah, Bayan Lepas 12-Jan 09 a Bas Kilang hit 6 bike and a car.... one person get kill...

This thing just waiting to happen with most of the bas kilang driver attitude, which always cut queue, think that they are king on the road.

Added polling for what your impression for Bas Kilang Driver...

Test your RAM

MEMTEST86+ (www.memtest.org/#downiso) is a free memory testing application that you cab download and use to put your computer's RAM through a thorough test.
Download one of the pre-compiled bootable packages and copy or burn it to whichever media you canboot your PC from other than hard drive.
Packages for CD-ROM, USB key, and floppy are available. Once started, Memtest86+ will run exhaustive tests on your RAM to determine wether any errors exist. -dpa

Intro for Chapter 11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_11

Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Chapter 11)

Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to anybusiness, whether organized as a corporation or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most prominently used by corporate entities. In contrast, Chapter 7 governs the process of a liquidation bankruptcy, while Chapter 13 provides a reorganization process for the majority of private individuals with unsecured debts of less than $336,900.00 and secured debts of less than $1,010,650.00 as of April 1, 2007.[edit]

Procedure

When a business is unable to service its debt or pay its creditors, the business or its creditors can file with a federal bankruptcy court for protection under either Chapter 7 or Chapter 11. In Chapter 7, the business ceases operations and a trustee sells all of its assets and distributes the proceeds to its creditors. In Chapter 11, in most instances the debtor remains in control of its business operations as a "debtor in possession", and is subject to the oversight and jurisdiction of the court.^[1] The court can grant complete or partial relief from most of the company's debts and its contracts. Sometimes, if the business's debts exceed its assets, then at the completion of bankruptcy the company's owners all end up without anything; all their rights and interests are ended and the company's creditors are left with ownership of the newly reorganized company.

Opt for better image organisers

MOST digital cameras come with a CD of their own programs, but you can usually do better by setting that aside. Why? Your computer should recognize the camera when you plug it in without needing any extra software, and you can usually find better applications to organise and edit pictures than what's waiting on that disc.
That Particularly true on a Mac, where Apple's iPhoto outclasses pretty much everything else for consumer use. In Windows XP, try Google's free Picasa (http://picasa.com); in Windows Vista, you can stick with the Photo Gallery program included with Vista, download Picasa or try Microsoft's new, free Windows Live Photo Gallery (http://get.live.com/betas) which adds more editing features to Vista's built-in software. LAT-WP

Electronic Firms News Update

Intel cuts earnings estimates

Expects to do worse that it said it might

By Paul Hales

Wednesday, 7 January 2009, 19:03

INTEL HAS CONFESSED that it expects its fourth-quarter revenue to drop by 23 per cent compared to last year - down to a measly  $8.2 billion.

The outfit blamed "further weakness in end demand and inventory reductions by its customers in the global PC supply chain".

We can't say we've noticed a drop in demand for ends around these parts but the chip-making monolith says it'll also make less profit that it previously said it would, so shareholders will be grumbling.

The preliminary estimate of gross margin for the fourth quarter is at the bottom of the previous expectation of 55 per cent, plus or minus a couple of points, the firm said.

The firm also said it  "will impair the value of its investment" in Clearwire, resulting in a non-cash charge to fourth-quarter earnings of approximately $950 million.

This means it'll make between $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion loss in its investments compared with a previous expectation of a loss of approximately $50 million.

The firm has cut R&D spending a bit it said, but things are still looking a bit sticky. Imagine if it had some proper competition.

Intel shares were down around four per cent when we last checked.

中国联想集团宣佈全球裁员

（中国‧北京）2005年收购IBM个人电脑业务的中国联想集团今日（週四，1月8日）宣佈將会裁减2500个职位，约佔此集团全球11%的人手。

联想发表公告指，有关裁员计划將可为公司到2010年3月节省3亿美元（约马幣10.6亿令吉）。

公告称，联想集团从2008年9月30日到12月31日的3个月可能面临重大亏损。董事会相信，潜在亏损主要是由於全球正面对的前所未有的经济挑战，造成个人电脑及相关產品需求下降所致。

联想集团董事会宣佈將启动一项资源调配计划，包括削减员工岗位、削减行政人员薪酬、合併中国及亚太区组织成立新的亚太及俄罗斯区，並將位於加拿大多伦多的客户服务中心调整到北卡罗来纳州。（法新社）

星洲互动‧2009.01.08

IBM將大裁1.6万人

• 即时新闻
• 国际財经

 2009-01-07 21:14

（美国‧纽约）依据非官方职员网站IBM employee.com指出，美国科技业巨人IBM 1月可能宣佈裁员消息，规模恐高达1万6000人，相当於全球总人力的4%。

据悉，IBM员工已耳闻1月下旬的裁员消息，其规模估计为2002年来最大的一波。近期，网站发佈了诸多类似预测消息。许多消息称，IBM设在美国佛蒙特州伯林顿的半导体工厂受到的影响可能尤为严重。

受到全球经济衰退的影响，企业纷纷缩减科技支出，使IBM业绩大受衝击。根据分析师预估，IBM去年第4季度营收可能下滑1.6%至284亿美元。IBM发言人考利表示："长久以来，公司都在调整內部人力，並持续投资具成长潜力的领域"。

当问到裁员流言时，他则婉拒发表评论。过去几年，IBM確实持续刪减人力，2007年5月与6月即分別裁员1570、450人。

根据IBM网站公佈的数据，这间公司全球员工总数超过38.6万人。如果传言的裁员1.6万人数字准確，裁员幅度將为其员工总数的4%左右。

IBM发言人麦克尼斯週一（1月5日）称，这间公司"不会对传言和猜测发表评论"。

IBM员工公会全国协调员康拉德说："我们还未得到实质性消息，但是，当特定消息来源开始传出许多传言时，基本上就八九不离十了。我们非常担忧这可能成为现实"。

据康拉德称，IBM员工公会仍处於组织阶段，尚未得到IBM的承认，目前拥有大约6000名成员，包括现有员工和退休人员。他指出，由於该工会尚未与IBM签署僱用合同，除了提醒大家对此注意外並不能做甚么。

週二（1月6日）收盘，IBM报89.23元，涨2.41元，或2.78%。（纽约明报）

 

飛索美光財務告急 衝擊我業者       【經濟日報╱記者周志恆、陳碧珠、何易霖／台北報導】 2008.12.31 03:09 am   金融海嘯效應大舉衝擊國際半導體大廠的營運資金周轉，外電傳出，全球最大NOR Flash（編碼型快閃記憶體）製造廠飛索（Spnaion）遭銀行團抽銀根，放款授信額度大減七成；另外，美國DRAM大廠美光（Micron）也傳出首季現金部位大減，引發華爾街分析師與國內業者的高度關注。 飛索與台積電、日月光、南茂等國內晶圓和封測廠合作關係密切，美光則與台塑集團的南科、華亞科策略聯盟，飛索、美光財務相繼告急，恐引發一連串後續效應，美光與台塑集團間的DRAM合作關係更備受考驗。不過，台積電、日月光、南科等並未受到這些訊息影響，昨天伴隨台股大漲多以上揚收盤。 日月光原計劃今年底前與飛索完成大陸蘇州廠合資建廠協議，不過礙於全球景氣衰退，加上飛索財務不穩，這項合資建廠案已出現延宕。 日月光發言人劉詩亮昨（30）日表示，合資案仍持續進行中，原計畫年底前完成，不過目前看來已不可能，雙方仍就協議內容繼續協調，公司也將密切觀察飛索財務狀況，一旦其財務資金調度出現問題，不排除中止合資案。 飛索下單量約占南茂三成營運比重，南茂財務長陳壽康表示，南茂與飛索財務往來目前仍然正常，飛索昨天才給付一筆630萬美元的款項給南茂。不司，南茂會密切注意飛索營運動向。 台積電原是飛索的代工廠，不過雙方已在年中逐漸結束合作關係。目前飛索相關晶圓訂單已轉給大陸的中芯國際代工，因此飛索財務吃緊，台積電應該不受影響。 外電報導，飛索是在29日交給美國證券管理委員會（SEC）的文件中宣布，美國銀行（Bank of America）與其他金融機構決定降低先前提供飛索的放款額度，由先前最多1.75億美元下修至最多4,500萬美元。此外，放款條件也增列飛索必須達成最低現金部位、稅前息前折舊攤銷前盈餘（EBITDA）限度。 市場認為，飛索遭大幅限縮信用額度，等同被抽銀根，飛索29日大跌10.45%，收0.197美元。飛索上周盤後曾發布新聞稿宣布，受客戶看淡年底買氣紛紛減產的衝擊，本季（10月到12月）營收預估將季減20%至5.05億美元，低於市場分析師平均預估的6.16億美元。 無獨有偶，市場也傳出美光手中現金部位大減，引發華爾街分析師關注。外電報導，美光目前持有現金部位在第一季度（9月到11月）下滑4.74億美元，第一季底現金與短期投資部位僅10.3億美元，負債則達29億美元。 分析師已預期，美光可能在未來兩至三季募集現金。但市場認為，目前金融市場疲弱不堪，加上記憶體景氣混沌不明，美光未來能否順利募資，仍須觀察。 市場憂心一旦美光財務吃緊，可能影響其與台塑集團間的DRAM合作關係。南科發言人白培霖昨天對此表示，目前南科與美光合作關係一切順利，也並未感受到美光有迫切的資金問題，市場應不用過度擔心。 【2008/12/31 經濟日報】@ http://udn.com/