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Company Interview Excerpt
JACK SALTICH - THREE-FIVE SYSTEMS INC (TFS)


Full article published: 3/11/2003


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TWST: Could we start out with an update on Three-Five Systems? We spoke a year ago, and we'd like to know what has gone on since then that investors should focus on?
Mr. Saltich: Inside our company there have been an enormous number of things that have happened this past year. First of all, let me talk about how we restructured the company through some of the key acquisitions we made in 2002. In January we acquired a company called Zight, which was previously called Colorado Microdisplay. That company was in the near-to-the-eye microdisplay business. It was a great acquisition. The near-to- the-eye-microdisplay market is really starting to happen and, with that acquisition, we absolutely thrust ourselves into a leadership position in that emerging market. We also acquired all of the assets of a company in Silicon Valley called InViso. These assets consisted of intellectual property that was aimed at the near-to-the-eye market. InViso was the recognized leader in optics for near-to-the-eye microdisplay applications; we now own all of that IP. As a matter of fact, if you look at our IP situation, we have about 90 patents that have been issued, and due to acquisitions as well as organic development, we have about 300 in process. So we have a very, very strong IP position in the microdisplay field. Another significant acquisition that we made occurred in September, and involved a company called Advanced Video Technology, AVT. The company is located in the Boston, Massachusetts area, and customizes and industrializes both CRT and flat panel displays for the medical, industrial and military markets. AVT has a very close association with Sony. In fact, AVT is able to obtain Sony monitors, reprogram them using Sony's source code, and then sell them to the customer while retaining the Sony warranty. This is a very good working relationship we have with Sony. So the AVT acquisition allows us to not only be in the microdisplay arena with our very tiny displays, but to also span the entire display spectrum up to full size, flat panel display monitors. The final acquisition that we did in 2002 occurred in November when we acquired ETMA, a company in Redmond, Washington. We acquired this company because it fit perfectly with two of Three-Five's core competencies. Those are specifically our very good display module design capability and our very low-cost offshore manufacturing capability in Beijing, China and Manila, Philippines. ETMA is a third-tier contract manufacturer, meaning that they generate revenue in the range of $10-$400 million. ETMA is located in Redmond and most of their customers are near there. What they needed for growth was an outlet to a low-cost Asian manufacturing source and we provide that source. So with our acquisition of ETMA, we offer customers a company with a global footprint with end to end capability. Meaning we can go from initial desing to high volume production. We provide the high-mix, medium volume production out of Redmond, Washington and when products ramp in volumes, that business can be transferred to our facility in either Beijing or Manila. In addition, if you couple ETMA's contract manufacturing capability with our display design knowledge, we can now provide more up- front design to ETMA's customers that need a display in their product, and there are many of them. Now we can go end-to-end and provide everything from initial design concept all the way to high-volume manufacturing. ETMA is targeted to do about $65 million in revenue next year. We acquired them for $38 million in cash, or about 6 times EBITDA. So during the course of 2002, we made major changes in our company through some significant, strategic acquisitions. Now let's review our organic growth. We have been focused on an intensive diversification effort to broaden our base from primarily a single market and single customer. That market is cell phones, and that customer is Motorola. We've been quite successful in this arena. Of the 20- plus design wins that we will secure this year ' we haven't yet reported what the fourth quarter will be ' only about one-third of them will be in the cell phone market. The balance will be in products for medical electronics, consumer home appliances and industrial devices. So we're well on our path, both organically and through acquisitions, to really diversify the company. We feel that next year we could achieve revenues in the $140-$160 million range, with no single customer being greater than 20% of our business. That's a huge change.

 

Tickers included in this excerpt: TFS

 

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