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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Business in brief: Key Tronic revenue rises

The Spokesman-Review

Key Tronic Corp. of Spokane Valley had revenues of $201.7 million for the fiscal year ending in June, a 7 percent increase from last year, the company announced Tuesday.

The contract and keyboard manufacturer posted fourth-quarter net income of $2.7 million, or 26 cents per diluted share, according to a news release. Profit of about $1.5 million from the sale of a former New Mexico facility roughly balanced losses from a former customer declaring bankruptcy, CFO Ron Klawitter said.

Key Tronic expects less demand from some customers for the first quarter of 2008, projecting revenues of $42 million to $45 million. But the company anticipates increasing year-long revenues, Klawitter said.

The firm previously announced a contract with Oakdale, Minn.-based Imation Corp. worth about $20 million in annual revenue. It may take half of the next fiscal year, however, to finish transitioning that manufacturing to the company’s Juarez, Mexico, facility, Klawitter said.

Tokyo

Efficient, thin, light TV unveiled

Sharp Corp. on Wednesday showed off what it calls the thinnest, lightest and most power-efficient TV yet.

The 52-inch liquid-crystal display prototype is just over an inch thick, weighs 55 pounds and consumes less energy than today’s LCD or plasma sets, the Japanese consumer electronics company said.

At a Tokyo museum, Sharp demonstrated how the new panels could be easily hung on walls or placed on thin poles for an arty floating effect. The LCD panels are about one-fourth the thickness of its current models.

Sharp President Mikio Katayama said parts of the new technology — a culmination of various improvements in materials, color filters and backlight technology — will be introduced gradually in Sharp’s upcoming products.

He also said he hoped to have the innovations ready for mass commercial production by the time a new Sharp plant is running in March 2010.

The Osaka-based manufacturer of Aquos brand TVs gave no details on how much sets using the new technology would cost.

New York

Commissions fall for stockbrokers

With more and more institutions move toward electronic trading systems and away from traditional single-stock transactions, brokers’ commissions are down for the first time in three years.

According to a report by consulting firm Greenwich Associates, total U.S. brokerage commissions held steady at about $10.8 billion for the 12-month periods ending in the first quarters of 2005 and 2006, but fell to about $10.3 billion in the 12-month period ending in the first quarter of this year.

“The average commission rate paid by institutions on U.S. equity trades is falling fast,” the report said, which may lead to less sell-side research services or brokers providing the same content and services for less money.

According to Greenwich Associates, about 30 percent of single-stock U.S. equity trading was done electronically by institutions so far this year.