National Semiconductor Corp reported a net loss of only $14.5m for a fourth quarter loaded with charges on revenue down 2% at $599m, compared to net income of $9.1m or $0.07 a year ago. The one-time charges, totaling $87.1m were incurred for the realignment of manufacturing and the acquisition of Mediamatics, also in March (CI No 3,125). The charges, which actually totaled $146.5m, were partially offset by a $14.6m credit for charges taken in the first quarter, and gains of $40.6m from the sale of Fairchild Semiconductor to Citicorp’s Sterling LLC arm in March (CI No 3,122) and $4.2 million from the sale of its digital answering machine chip business. Excluding charges, Nat Semi showed net income of $66.3m, or $0.43 per share, of which $4.4 was attributed to Fairchild. Wall Street was only expecting $0.37. For the year, net income totaled $27.5m, or $0.19 per share, on revenue down 4% at $2.51bn, down from net income of $185.4m, or $1.34 per share a year ago. Fiscal 1997 includes slightly more than three-quarters worth of Fairchild results and $74.9m in charges on top of those taken in the fourth quarter.
