Irvine-based Newport Corp. said it plans to sell its robotic systems operations, the largest part of its advanced packaging and automation systems unit in Northern California.
Products from Newport’s Richmond-based robotic systems division are used in the chip industry. They include wafer-handling robots, load ports and equipment front-end modules.
Newport said it hired an investment bank to handle the sale. The robotic systems business includes “a number of issued and pending patents on state-of-the-art edge-gripping end effectors for wafer-handling robots.”
The unit is losing money. Newport said it expects the operation to post a loss of $2.5 million to $3.5 million when first-quarter results come out April 28. The unit counts about $4 million in quarterly sales.
Newport has tried to turn around the unit, according to Robert “Bob” Deuster, the company’s chief executive. The moves have lessened operating losses but “will not eliminate them in the near term,” he said.
“Given our current strategic focus, we have decided to sell the robotic systems operations in order to improve our overall financial results and to allow us to serve the semiconductor equipment industry more profitably in the future,” Deuster said.
With the pending sale, Newport said its first-quarter sales would be slightly lower at $96 million to $97 million. Profits from continuing operations would be up, in the range of $3.9 million to $6 million.
“The robotic systems operations represented less than 5% of Newport’s total net sales and less than 17% of Newport’s sales to the semiconductor capital equipment market in the second half of 2004,” Deuster said.
