Press Room

Swindon, UK. - Milano – 15 Ottobre 2003 – Plantronics, Inc ha annunciato oggi i ricavi e gli utili relativi al secondo trimestre dell’anno fiscale 2004. Nel secondo trimestre il fatturato complessivo è aumentato di circa il 15,5%, raggiungendo 95,1 milioni di USD, rispetto agli 82,4 milioni registrati dello stesso trimestre dell’anno fiscale 2003, e l’utile operativo è cresciuto da 13,7 a 17,5 milioni di USD. Nel secondo trimestre la società ha evidenziato un utile netto pari a 12,4 milioni di USD, rispetto ai 11,5 milioni dello stesso periodo dell’anno fiscale 2003. L’utile diluito per azione realizzato da Plantronics nel secondo trimestre è aumentato del 12,5% passando a 0,27 USD rispetto al secondo trimestre del fiscale 2003 (0,24 USD). La crescita dell’utile netto e dell’EPS si è rivelata inferiore rispetto a quella del ricavo operativo poiché l’aliquota d’imposta nel secondo trimestre dell’anno 2004 è stata del 30%, rispetto al 17,5 % del secondo trimestre dell’anno 2003.

Ken Kannappan, President e Chief Executive Officer ha affermato: “I nostri risultati sono in linea le previsioni diffuse il 15 luglio, che indicavano un fatturato tra i 92 e i 97 milioni di USD, e utili per azione da 0,24 a 0,27 USD. Rispetto a queste attese, gli utili si sono rivelati maggiori, mentre il fatturato si è mantenuto nella media. Il reddito lordo è aumentato grazie ad un migliore product mix e una maggior efficienza nella produzione.”

“Rispetto a settembre dello scorso anno, i fatturati di tutti i gruppi di produzione sono cresciuti, un grosso incremento è stato generato dai nuovi auricolari per telefoni cellulari. Il fatturato di questo gruppo di produzione è aumentato del 56% rispetto allo stesso trimestre dello scorso anno. Il lancio dell’ M3000, un auricolare wireless Bluetooth con un talking time della durata media di 8 ore, e la crescita continua della richiesta di auricolari MX150, sono stati fattori chiave nella crescita dei prodotti per cellulari rispetto allo scorso anno. La crescita di questi nuovi prodotti ha compensato la diminuzione dei volumi OEM dei prodotti Bluetooth. Il fatturato dei prodotti Office e Contact Center è cresciuto del 7% rispetto allo stesso trimestre dello scorso anno. Questa crescita è stata registrata a livello internazionale ed è stata alimentata dall’introduzione di un nuovo prodotto di successo: il CS60, una cuffia wireless per telefoni fissi.”

Plantronics

Plantronics, Inc. ha introdotto la prima cuffia telefonica leggera nel 1962 ed è riconosciuta come leader mondiale nella produzione di cuffie per telecomunicazioni. Quotata alla borsa di New York, con circa 2.850 dipendenti, Plantronics è leader a livello globale nella fornitura di cuffie per telecomunicazioni alle aziende telefoniche e alla comunità business. Le cuffie Plantronics sono state utilizzate in numerosi film e eventi di alto profilo, compresa la storica trasmissione di Neil Armstrong dalla luna “One small step for man” del 1969. Con headquarter a Santa Cruz, California, Plantronics è stata fondata nel 1961; e ha sedi in 20 paesi. I prodotti Plantronics sono venduti e distribuiti attraverso una rete mondiale di partner autorizzati. I prodotti e le informazioni sull’azienda sono consultabili sul sito www.plantronics.com. Per contattare Plantronics Italia telefonare al numero verde 800/950934 o inviare un’e-mail all’indirizzo: informazioni@plantronics.com

© 2003 Plantronics, Inc. Tutti i diritti riservati. Plantronics, il design del logo, Plantronics e il design del logo combinati e Intellistand sono trademark registrati di Plantronics, Inc. negli Stati Uniti e in vari paesi. Tutti gli altri marchi sono proprietà delle rispettive aziende.

Ulteriori informazioni sui prodotti Plantronics sono disponibili su Plantronet, una vasta extranet dove sono contenute notizie sulla gamma prodotti Plantronics già in commercio, sulle ultime novità e sulle strategie di marketing dell’azienda. Plantronet ospita una sezione specificamente dedicata ai media dove si possono scaricare immagini ad alta
risoluzione, schede prodotto, materiale informativo. Per accedere a Plantronet è richiesta la preregistrazione. Per registrarsi cliccare su www.plantro.net

Per ulteriori informazioni contattare:

Ufficio Stampa Plantronics
Emanuela Dilavanzo – Flaviana Facchini

AIGO
Tel. 02-669927228
e-mail: e.dilavanzo@aigo.it, f.facchini@aigo.it

segue:

Barbara Scherer, SVP and CFO, said, “I’m pleased with our financial performance and the continued progress we made in improving our operating margin. On a year-to-date basis, our operating margin increased to 17.7% from 16.8%, and was 18.4% in the second quarter. Our working capital management also continues to be solid with cash flow from operations amounting to $14.2 million in the second quarter. Cash collections on accounts receivable and the related DSO were better than we anticipated at the outset of the quarter. As a result, DSO increased just one day to 49 days for the September quarter and this compares to 56 days in the year ago quarter. Net inventory increased by about $250k sequentially, and second quarter inventory turns were 4.9.”

During the quarter, we did not repurchase shares of our common stock and thus had 142,600 shares remaining authorized for repurchase as of the end of the quarter. Although we intend to continue to repurchase stock, the stock continued to trade above the levels authorized for repurchase by our Board. A price cap on stock repurchase is set to help ensure that purchases of stock by the Company are reasonably strongly accretive to earnings per share. The level of stock repurchase by the Company has fluctuated in the past, and is likely to fluctuate substantially in the future as well. We continue to view stock repurchase programs as an important long-term use of excess cash flow.

Business Outlook
The following statements are based on current expectations. Many of these statements are forward-looking, and actual results may differ materially.

We recognize that although certain economic indicators have improved, the overall economic and geopolitical environment remain challenging and highly uncertain. Although we are cautiously optimistic about our own outlook primarily on the basis of expected demand for new products, we remain uncertain about the overall level of demand for our products and consequently, our level of future profitability. In particular, employment levels have not yet risen and we believe our business is heavily influenced by the level of employment and the percentage of workers unemployed. Related to this, our U.S. commercial distributors reported a 7% increase in the sell-through for the September quarter in comparison to the June quarter, but a 3% decrease compared to the year-ago comparable quarter. This group of distributors focuses primarily on our Office and Contact Center products.

Although we remain uncertain about the economic environment and see no signs of a pick-up in the contact center market, we are currently expecting:

• Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2004 to be in the range of
$95 - $100 million.
• Earnings per share for the third quarter of fiscal 2004 to be in the range of $0.27 - $0.30.

Plantronics does not intend to update these targets and estimates during the quarter or to report on its progress toward these estimated results. Plantronics will not comment on these targets to analysts or investors except through publicly announced conference calls, press releases or other public disclosure. Any statements by persons outside Plantronics speculating on the progress of the quarter will not be based on internal Company information and should be assessed accordingly by investors. The statements do not reflect the potential impact of any mergers or acquisitions that may be completed after the date of this release.

It has been our practice to provide guidance for the upcoming quarter only and we intend to continue this practice. However, there are certain aspects about the fourth quarter that we feel investors should be informed about and we are thus providing an additional level of disclosure at this time. Our fiscal 2004 year contains 53 weeks in comparison to 52 in fiscal 2003 and the fourth quarter will have 14 weeks instead of the usual 13, and will end on April 3, 2004. Fiscal 2000 was the last such year that had 53 instead of 52 weeks. The extra week in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004 will affect the comparability with the third quarter of fiscal 2004 and the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003. The extra week in the fourth quarter is also likely to negatively affect the comparison between the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004 and the first quarter of fiscal 2005.

In addition, there is some risk that third fiscal quarter revenues from one of our major customers could exceed the customer’s end-user demand during the period. If this is true, it could lead to a decrease in orders in future periods as the customer seeks to reduce its inventory position. This phenomenon occurred last year when we experienced a 25% drop in our mobile revenues between the third and fourth fiscal quarters. If this recurs, the impact could be larger this year as our current order level for shipment in the third fiscal quarter is larger than a year ago.

Finally, the U.K. recently passed a hands-free initiative which is anticipated to cause a rise in our revenues from resellers in that market. If the level of demand does not materialize and/or does not hold up into the fourth quarter, we could also see a marked drop in revenues to customers in that region in the March quarter. In general, our exposure to seasonal retail and consumer driven channels is larger than it has been in the past, and we are uncertain how significant the seasonality effect will be.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995:
Certain statements in this press release, including projections of revenues and earnings for the December quarter, our comments on our fourth fiscal quarter, our anticipation of a rise in revenues from U.K. resellers and other statements under the caption “Business Outlook” above, are forward-looking statements based on current information and expectations. Achievement of the results projected above is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. In addition to the factors cited above, among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected are:
· A slowing in international economic growth, or a “double-dip” recession in the U.S., resulting in a reduction in the overall level of demand for our products;
· A lessening of the level of market demand for our products within our core contact center market and/or in the office, mobile, computer and residential markets;
· As the national/international economy recovers, employment opportunities in the contact center or office markets may not increase commensurately but may remain flat or even decrease lessening the future demand for our products;
· The inability to successfully develop, manufacture and market new products;
· The demand for new wireless headset products may not develop as we anticipate and may lead to excess inventory and the inability to recover the associated development costs;
· A decrease in the liquidity of our customers caused by general economic conditions that may impact their ability to pay amounts due us;
· The actions of existing and/or new competitors, especially with regard to pricing and promotional programs;
· The entry of new competitors which could be spurred by changes in the regulatory environment, particularly laws requiring the use of hands-free devices by drivers when using cellular telephones;
· Greater sales in higher tax jurisdictions as compared to lower tax jurisdictions;
· Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates;
· Changes in the regulatory environment either as to headsets directly or as to the products, such as mobile phones, with which our products are used.
Additional risk factors include: changes in the timing and size of orders from our customers, price erosion, increased requirements from retail customers for marketing support and advertising funding, failure to match production to demand, interruption in the supply of sole-sourced critical components, continuity of component supply at costs consistent with our plans, failure of our distribution channels to operate as we expect, failure to develop products that keep pace with technological changes, the inherent risks of our substantial foreign operations, problems which might affect our principal manufacturing facility in Mexico or our contract manufacturing operations in China, further terrorist acts, our nations’ response to terrorist attacks and the effects of these activities on capital and consumer spending, the effects of the “do not call” legislation may have a greater impact than we currently anticipate, and the loss of services of key executives and employees. For more information concerning these and other possible risks, please refer to the Company’s Form 10-K filed on June 2, 2003, filings on Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as recent press releases. These filings can be accessed over the Internet at http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html