ANGLETON, Texas, April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: BHE), a leading contract manufacturing provider, announced sales of $497 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared to $684 million for the same quarter in the prior year. The Company reported first quarter net income of $9 million, or $0.14 per diluted share. In the comparable period of 2008, net income was $22 million, or $0.32 per diluted share. Excluding restructuring charges, the Company would have reported net income of $10 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2009.

'Our diversification has not provided us with immunity from the broad-based economic downturn as end market demand decreased in the first quarter,' said Cary T. Fu, the Company's Chief Executive Officer. 'We have seen challenging economic cycles before and our teams are focused on serving our customers, generating cash flows and reducing costs. We still see significant outsourcing opportunities, which have resulted in another solid quarter of new program wins. Despite the present challenging environment, we are making long-term investments to position ourselves for continued growth when the recovery occurs.'

First Quarter 2009 Financial Highlights

• Operating margin for the first quarter was 2.0% on a GAAP basis and 2.3%, excluding restructuring charges.
• Cash flows provided by operating activities for the first quarter were approximately $64 million.
• Cash and long-term investments balance was $454 million at March 31, 2009. Long-term investments consist of $47 million of auction rate securities.
• Accounts receivable was $338 million at March 31, 2009; calculated days sales outstanding were 61 days.
• Inventory was $345 million at March 31, 2009; inventory turns were 5.4 times.

Second Quarter 2009 Outlook

Sales for the second quarter of 2009 are expected to range from $460 million to $520 million. Diluted earnings per share for the second quarter, excluding restructuring charges, are expected to be between $0.13 and $0.21.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes financial measures for earnings and earnings per share that exclude certain items and therefore are not in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). A detailed reconciliation between the GAAP results and results excluding special items (non-GAAP) is included at the end of this press release. By disclosing this non-GAAP information, management intends to provide investors with additional information to further analyze the company's performance and underlying trends. Management utilizes a measure of net income (loss) and earnings (loss) per share on a non-GAAP basis that excludes certain items to better assess operating performance and to help investors compare our results with our previous guidance.

The non-GAAP information included in this press release is not necessarily comparable to non-GAAP information of other companies. Non-GAAP information should not be viewed as a substitute for, or superior to, net income (loss) or other data prepared in accordance with GAAP as measures of our profitability or liquidity.