IEC Holds Annual Shareholders` Meeting

Guidance to Shareholders on Growth in Earnings and Reduction in Company Debt Chairman and Acting Chief Executive Officer W. Barry Gilbert chaired the meeting at IEC's facility in Newark, New York. Re-elected to IEC's Board of Directors were: W. Barry Gilbert, David Beaubien, Robert P. B. Kidd, Eben Moulton, Dermott O'Flanagan, James Rowe and Justin Vigdor. The program presented by Mr. Gilbert and IEC's Chief Operating Officer Bill R. Anderson detailed IEC's progress in the last quarter of fiscal 2002 and first quarter of fiscal 2003, which included debt reduction and net income. Mr. Gilbert thanked IEC's employees, customers and suppliers for standing by the company during this past year, while IEC completed its new financing agreement. He then discussed the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry in 2002. He noted that regardless of the size of the EMS provider, most companies in the industry suffered net losses last year, including some that lost billions of dollars. The sector's widespread collapse in 2002 was felt by IEC, where management responded by eliminating excess capacity by selling the Mexican and Texas facilities. Mr. Anderson presented IEC's financial results to the shareholders, which included positive net income in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 and in the first quarter of fiscal 2003. He noted that continued tight management of the company's inventory is expected to result in 10 turns for the second quarter of 2003, rivaling the best in the industry. Mr. Gilbert expressed his belief that the new financing will provide IEC with credibility, flexibility and stability. The company is focusing on industries requiring high mix, low-to-medium volume complex electronics that are not easily portable to a low labor country. IEC will continue to increase its value-added services like design and test engineering, box build, final assembly and repair depots. He went on to say that earnings for the second quarter of the fiscal year could be in the range of $0.10 to as much as $0.12 per share for continuing operations and as much as $0.12 to $0.14 per share including discontinued operations. Mr. Gilbert noted that the cash from operations plus proceeds from the sale of non-core assets were being used to reduce the company's debt. He anticipated that IEC's long-term debt (the current portion of that debt plus the working capital revolver) could be reduced to $3.4 million by the end of IEC's fiscal year in September, compared to $6.5 million in January, when the refinancing took place. Shareholders then toured IEC's 300,000 square foot production facility including the Technology Center that includes new product introduction services. The 10,000 square foot center includes two prototype assembly lines and analysis equipment including automatic optical inspection and real time x-ray in its Advanced Materials Technology Laboratory.Source: PCBnewsline