Plexus announces Q4 revenue of $426 Million and EPS of $0.53

Sets fiscal 2008 revenue growth target of 15% to 18% and initiates Q1 revenue guidance of $440 - $460 Million

-- Q4 Fiscal 2007 Results: Revenue for the fiscal 4th quarter ended September 29, 2007 was $426 million with diluted GAAP EPS of $0.53, including $0.03 per share of stock option expense and $0.02 per share of restructuring costs.

-- Fiscal 2008 Revenue Growth Target: Consistent with the Company's strategic objectives, Plexus is targeting revenue growth in the range of 15% to 18% in fiscal 2008.

-- Q1 Fiscal 2008 Guidance: The Company established fiscal 1st quarter revenue guidance of $440 to $460 million with EPS, excluding any restructuring charges, in the range of $0.58 to $0.63, including approximately $0.03 per share of stock option expense.

Dean Foate, President and CEO, commented, "Our return on invested capital (ROIC) for fiscal 2007 of 17.6% was above our weighted average cost of capital (WACC) and consistent with our long-term financial model. Despite being at the low end of our revenue guidance for Q4, we exceeded our earnings expectations, driven primarily by a favorable mix of customer programs, better than expected labor efficiencies and strong performance by our engineering services organization (Technology Group). Relative to our guidance for Q4, our Medical Sector was exceptionally strong while our Defense Sector revenues were lower than expected, as we experienced an approximately $15 million push-out in the production schedule for a significant defense customer to the first quarter of fiscal 2008. Q4 included approximately $44 million of revenue for this customer."

Ginger Jones, Chief Financial Officer, added "Our operating income for Q4 was favorably impacted by approximately $0.01 as a result of several items: we recognized approximately $2.9 million of pre-tax benefit for shipments of inventory that we had previously written down for a financially distressed customer, which was offset by a $0.9 million pre-tax restructuring charge as we scaled our Mexican operations to match current revenue levels, as well as a $1.3 million pre-tax warranty-related charge. Offsetting the favorable net impact to operating income, we continued to experience losses in our Mexican facility, and our tax rate for fiscal 2007 was higher than expected at approximately 22%, primarily due to the regional mix of production in Q4. This resulted in an effective tax rate of 25% for the fourth quarter, which reduced diluted earnings per share for the quarter by approximately $0.04."