Benchmark sees its 1Q profit drop

“I want to thank our extraordinary team for their hard work to deliver our results for the first quarter. While adhering to safety and government guidelines, we were able to navigate a very difficult start to the year that began with challenges in our Suzhou, China facility early in the quarter and then migrated to our global locations in late March,” says Jeff Benck, Benchmark President and CEO, in the company’s quarter report. EMS provider Benchmark recorded first quarter sales of USD 515 million, a decrease from USD 603 million during the same period last year. Net income for the quarter amounted to USD 4 million, a drop from USD 14 million during 1Q19. First quarter operating margin was 1.3% compared with 2.7% for the comparison period. “Looking ahead, while we are not immune to the economic impacts created by COVID-19 and the associated labor and supply chain challenges, we expect continued strength in Medical, Defense, and Semi-cap sectors as compared to our other vertical markets. We continue to play a key role in the COVID-19 fight with a number of products we design, test, and manufacture in the Medical sector that directly support efforts to battle this disease,” the CEO continues. The company is proactively deploying a number of prioritised cost and cash management actions to reduce expenses and conserve cash during this period of uncertainty. Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unpredictable impact on the company’s operations due to government enacted plant shut downs and shelter in place restrictions, particularly at its Tijuana, Mexico, Penang, Malaysia, and California operations as well as supply chain impacts, Benchmark says it is unable to forecast with certainty the effect on its financial and operational results for the second quarter of 2020.