Apr 11, 2002
Sheldahl�s sales slipped 21% in 2001, according to the company�s filing with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission. Sheldahl posted sales of $109 million, down from $138 million on a pro-forma basis and $20 million on an actual basis from the prior eleven-month fiscal year.
Sales at Sheldahl�s Materials and Flex Interconnect division declined 23%. Sales at its International Flex Technologies division, the former IBM flex plant that merged with Sheldahl in late 2000, declined 13%. The company blamed decreases in demand due to general economic conditions, particularly at IFT, which was hit hard by order cancellations. IFT was also affected by a technological shift from a thermal-bond product line of tape ball grid array to the newer wirebond version of TBGA. While unit sales of the thermal bond TBGA dropped by 400,000, Sheldahl sold 1 million more pieces of the wire-bond TBGA, at a substantially lower price. Year-on-year, TBGA sales declined $1.3 million or 7.2%, �Dendriplate� sales declined $2.4 million (52.2%), and flexible circuits sales were about even.
As of Dec. 28, Sheldahl had about $2.3 million available to borrow on a revolving credit facility, a $5 million reduction by the lenders for a liquidity reserve. The availability of credit is based on Sheldahl�s adjusted working capital.
Sheldahl said its IFT subsidiary missed two semiannual payments totaling $1.5 million to IBM for an intellectual property license. However, no default has been declared. Sheldahl is also behind in payments on certain of its capital lease and installment note obligations, and expects to be out of compliance with certain covenants under its credit agreement during the first quarter of 2002.
