Brian Halla Percent Quotations

Led by robust analog and wireless sales, we had an outstanding quarter. Focus on execution drove our gross margins to 51 percent, up from 48 percent in the previous quarter.

Seven weeks ago at our Dec. 7 earnings announcement, we projected a falloff in the current quarter of 10 percent based on slowness in the wireless market, PCs and peripherals, and a broad-based distribution inventory correction.

Now, a lot of people are saying better than 25 percent or better than 30 percent, and we certainly feel as bullish as anybody right now.

We ended the year with over a billion dollars in cash reserves, a 21 percent return on invested capital and a stronger analog portfolio. Our goal in fiscal 2006 is to drive gross margins even higher.

I'm pleased with another quarter of strong growth in which our core business revenues increased by 26 percent over last year's second quarter, led by 36 percent growth in analog sales.

Business conditions were stronger than we had originally anticipated. We reached our interim goal of 60 percent gross margin earlier than we expected and at the same time continued to gain market share in the analog standard linear market.