Seagate turns in $35m loss for Q2

Disk-drive manufacturer Seagate has turned in a loss for its second quarter, despite beating Wall Street expectations.

Disk-drive manufacturer Seagate has turned in a loss for its second quarter, despite beating Wall Street expectations.

For the three-month period ended 31 December 1999, turnover slid to $1.64bn (£1.2bn), compared with $1.80bn a year earlier. Losses for the quarter were $35m compared with a profit of $41m for the same period a year ago.

Profit was hit by gains and charges totalling $803m. Excluding these items, the net profit was $30m.

The charges included a $23m restructuring cost and a $374m charge relating to Seagate's investment in Veritas Software, while gains on sales of the manufacturer's investments in Veritas and Sandisk were $344m and $62m respectively.

Seagate has suffered along with the rest of the hard drive industry as manufacturers have cut costs and prices in a bid to gain market share as well as access to the low-end PC sector.

Part of Seagate's restructuring involved the loss of 8,000 jobs last year, almost 10 per cent of its entire workforce. Since then, the market has steadied somewhat and the company is starting to feel the effects of its restructure.

"Seagate has posted its seventh consecutive quarter of profitability while reaching the highest productivity and efficiency in our company's history," said Stephen Luczo, chief executive of Seagate.

Luczo also claimed that since the restructure, manufacturing time had been reduced by 55 per cent and product per employee was up by 40 per cent.

Meanwhile, Seagate revealed it has shipped its 150 millionth magnetic disc from its recording media operations in Singapore.