Novellus Systems said Wednesday that Chief Executive Richard Hill will begin getting paid a base salary equal to 90 percent of his reported 2008 base salary, which was $878,000, according to the company’s last proxy, making his new base salary $790,200. Divided by 12, that amounts to about $65,850 a month.
But the reduction is effectively a raise, given that Read the rest of this entry »
Novellus Systems, the San Jose chip-equipment maker that reported a $66.4 million loss for its 2009 first quarter as its sales fell 69 percent, has decided it won’t be needing the $150 million in credit it had arranged through Bank of America, according to a regulatory filing.
The company, which spent $1.7 million reducing its workforce during its most recent quarter on top of the $6.9 million it spent during the fourth quarter of 2008, was able to add Read the rest of this entry »
Mattson Technology of Fremont is the latest chip-equipment maker to announce layoffs as it begins a “reorganization of its structure to reflect changes in anticipated levels of business,” according to a filing it made today after the markets closed. (Earlier Tuesday Novellus Systems said it had decided to cut 10 percent of its staff as it lowered profits forecast for the second time in three weeks.)
Mattson said it will “reduce approximately Read the rest of this entry »
In a filing Tuesday, the board of directors at Novellus Systems raised the age at which they must retire. It had been 68 years of age past which a director could not be elected to the board but was changed (tortuously) to “the age at which such individual shall have reached an anniversary exceeding his or her 70th anniversary of birth.” That’s 71, right?
So we had to go see just how old the members of Novellus’ board are. Based on its proxy from a year ago dated April 10, it looks like they ranged in age from as young as 41 (Ann Rhoads, a CFO at a health care supply management company) to as old as 68 (David Lister, a physics professor at MIT). Add one year, and Lister would not have been eligible for re-election under the old by-laws. The median age of the Novellus board a year ago was 63.
From an options point of view, it would be a bad time to be forced to cash out option grants with Novellus shares trading near the lowest levels in six years. But we’re sure that had no bearing on this particular decision.
The stock price may get worse before it improves.
Novellus also lowered its guidance Tuesday on its just completed first quarter, saying it expects sales to be at “the low end of the previously communicated range of $315 million to $325 million. Net income is expected to be between $0.15 and $0.17 per fully diluted share versus the range of $0.21 to $0.24″ the company gave in a mid-quarter update call on Feb. 28.
The company blamed a “less than favorable” product mix, higher manufacturing spending, a write-down and a higher tax rate.
William Kurtz quit Friday as chief financial officer at Novellus Systems the same day its
shares hit a 52-week low. The news didn’t rate a press release or a single line of explanationin the SEC filing the company made late Friday to announce the development, perhaps hoping it would pass little noticed. We were wrong. Novellus put out a press release on Dec. 17 reporting that Kurtz would be joining a “venture-backed company” on March 1)
Novellus shares lost 20 percent of their value last year and are down another 20 percent after two months of 2008. None of Kurtz’s stock option awards are in the money and the restricted stock he got when he started Sept. 1, 2005, is worth 5 percent less now.
And the immediate future is not looking bright for the companies like Novellus that make
equipment used to manufacture semiconductors. The company said in January that orders this quarter may fall as much as 15 percent.
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