Date:10.Jul.2008

The CMS business achieved a fourth consecutive record performance, with revenue for the financial year 2008 increasing by 6.5% over the financial year 2007 to US$248.3 million. The business accounted for 16.0% of Group revenue, against 15.9% in the previous financial year. The growth was mainly driven by new customers in the areas of professional audio equipment and radio frequency products.
With a strong commitment to providing high quality and flexible services to medium sized customers, we continued to build our reputation in the Electronic Manufacturing Services industry and are increasingly winning business through word-of-mouth recommendation. This is especially true in the field of professional audio equipment, which as a result became the largest product category of the CMS business in the financial year 2008, accounting for 26.8% of total CMS revenue. This category was followed by switching mode power supplies at 25.4%, home appliances at 13.0% and wireless products at 13.0%.
Geographically, North America showed greater momentum than Europe, raising its share of total CMS revenue from 36.6% in the previous financial year to 40.4% in the financial year 2008. Europe remained the largest market of the CMS business, accounting for 45.7% of total CMS revenue, followed by Asia Pacific at 13.9%. During the financial year 2008, the business made good progress in developing Japanese customers, who have been impressed by our new dedicated facility.
The quality of the service we offer was again evidenced by a number of supplier awards. These included one in recognition of outstanding collaboration and execution in manufacturing from a customer in the field of wireless products, and one acknowledging that we had met the highest supplier standards for a customer in the field of solid-state lighting system.
Despite continued cost pressures, the CMS business has been able to mitigate the impact of cost increases through economies of scale and leveraging the procurement power of the Group. We were also able to pass on some cost increases to customers. In the middle of the calendar year 2007, the business initiated a six sigma project in order to achieve further cost improvements.