Freescale Semiconductor, Rich Beyer, Financial Results, Debt Freescale's loss narrows on stronger sales, margins

Freescale Semiconductor said its net loss narrowed sharply in the second quarter on higher sales and despite charges for business reorganization and continuing losses stemming from early payment or modification of long-term debt.

The company reported a net loss of $168 million, or 79 cents per share,  for the three months ended July 1, versus net loss of $538 million, or $2.73 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue for the just ended quarter increased 10 percent, to $1.22 billion from $1.11 billion in the second quarter of 2010. Gross profit margin rose nearly five percentage points to 42.3 percent from 37.5 percent and the company reported operating earnings of $31 million versus operating loss of $18 million in the comparable year-ago quarter.

“Our second quarter results continue the trend of sales and margin improvement, both sequentially and year over year,” Rich Beyer, chairman and CEO of Freescale, said in a statement. “We saw growth in all of our core businesses and continued to solidify our leadership positions with design-win momentum.”

On an adjusted basis, Freescale reported 45.6 percent in gross profit margin, operating earnings of $216 million and earnings per share of 33 cents. The company recorded $121 million in charges "associated with the completion of the company's initial public offering in May 2011, debt extinguishment and certain costs related to the closure of our Sendai, Japan, facility."

The company's major operating units continued to witness steady sales growth with the microcontroller business posting revenue of $430 million compared with $424 million in the prior quarter and $387 million in the year-ago quarter. The RF, analog and sensor division recorded sales of $315 million, up from $254 million in the second quarter of 2010 while the networking and multimedia unit had sales of $312 million, up slightly from $303 million.

Freescale (Austin, Texas) closed its latest quarter with $805 million in cash and cash equivalents and $887 million in restricted cash. The company's long-term debt dropped more than $1 billion from the year-ago quarter to $6.59 billion from $7.63 billion.Freescale Semiconductor, Rich Beyer, Financial Results, Debt Freescale's loss narrows on stronger sales, margins