Seagate Technology Holdings reported record shipments of 16.7 million disc drives for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2003. The company reported consolidated revenue of $1.579 billion and net income, on a GAAP basis, of $110 million, for its quarter ended September 27, 2002. Excluding one-time net restructuring charges of $7 million, Seagate reported net income of $117 million and EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) of $226 million for the quarter ended September 27.

For the year-ago quarter ended September 28, 2001, consolidated revenue was $1.294 billion, net income was $34 million and EBITDA was $132 million. For the quarter ended June 28, 2002, Seagate reported revenue of $1.473 billion and a net loss, on a GAAP basis, of $198 million. Excluding one-time charges, net income was $94 million and EBITDA was $223 million. The one-time charges consisted of deferred compensation charges of $179 million and debt refinancing charges of $93 million.

As we can see, the crisis seems to be over for Seagate and the storage-solutions provider has returned to profitability. Of course, it was not so easy, moreover, they continue to cut their costs, for instance they had to slash the warranty time for their HDDs to one year, what will not be appreciated by the customers (see this news-story). Nevertheless, we have to say that now Seagate’s future looks bright. They had pretty tough times in 1998 and 1999, but since then they have done a lot of work, so, now I can only congratulate them and wish all the best.

Not a lot of companies report profits nowadays, isn’t it?