ATI nudges toward profitability

ATI today said it made $2.2 million (one cent a share) in the three months to 31 August, the company's final quarter of its 2001 fiscal year.

The quarter's revenues came in at $229.1 million, a 6.7 per cent fall on the same period last year. However, gross margins rose 5.5 per cent to 29.6 per cent and operating expenses fell 2.7 per cent to $88.3 million, allowing the company to record its small but welcome profit.

Take into account one-off items, though, and that income disappears, replaced by an unadjusted $11.6 million loss (five cents a share)

For the full year, ATI saw its revenues fall 19.1 per cent to $1.04 billion. The adjusted net loss for the year was $16.3 million (seven cents a share) - the unadjusted net loss was $54.2 million (23 cents a share).

ATI blamed the decline in sales on the slowdown in the PC market, but believes it's now in a better position that it once was to capitalise on any revival in that arena and others. "We have successfully refocused the business [and] changed our strategy to partner with third-party board makers," said ATI's president and COO, David Orton. "Our growth will be driven by an expanding footprint in the PC market through increased desktop and workstation market share, the introduction of new technology in the integrated market as well as our participation in the consumer game console space with Nintendo's GameCube."

Not that it expects this recovery to happen any time soon, it seems. While the events of 11 September had no effect on Q4 2001 or the full fiscal year, they have still persuaded ATI that it's not a good idea to issue guidance for the current or future quarters.

It had previously predicted a slight upturn in sales and income for Q1 2002 over Q4 2001, but it today withdrew those forecasts and others it made for fiscal 2002 as a whole. ®