$134.2-Million Loss Reported by Western Digital : Earnings: Computer components maker was affected by restructuring and industry turmoil. It also names an acting financial chief.

Capping a year of industry turmoil and internal restructuring, Western Digital Corp. reported a loss of $134.2 million for its fiscal year ended June 30.

The maker of personal computer components also announced the appointment of George L. Bragg, acting chief financial officer, as vice chairman of the company.

Bragg worked with Western Digital Chairman Roger W. Johnson during a financial turnaround at Memorex Corp. in the 1970s. Western Digital said he will focus on strategic management issues such as long-term financing.

Johnson acknowledged that there is much work to be done.

“Our restructuring is not done,” he said. “You have to be changing in this business all the time.”

The fiscal year loss of $4.59 a share contrasts with net income of $24.2 million, or 82 cents a share, a year earlier.

The loss includes one-time restructuring charges of $66 million for the second quarter and $15.5 million for the fourth quarter. Revenue for the year fell 8% to $986 million from $1.07 billion a year earlier.

For the fourth quarter ended June 30, the company lost $26.5 million, or 91 cents a share, contrasted with net income of $9.5 million, or 32 cents a share, a year earlier.

The fourth-quarter loss, which included a previously announced one-time charge related to a restructuring of $206 million in company debt, was within Wall Street’s expectations of a $9-million to $13-million loss, said Steve DeLuca, an analyst at Cruttenden & Co., an Irvine investment bank.

Revenue for the quarter fell 14% to $253.3 million from $294.8 million a year earlier. Johnson said the company suffered from soft demand, production delays for new high-volume disk drive products and steep price cutting in the industry.

At the beginning of its fiscal year, Western Digital’s prospects looked promising to Wall Street. The company had just built a sophisticated semiconductor plant and moved into a 14-story headquarters in the Irvine Spectrum business park.

But demand for the company’s older product lines, especially semiconductor chips mounted on electronic circuit boards, fell sharply with the onset of the recession in the second half of 1990.

Production of some new products based on smaller chips was delayed, and the company couldn’t manufacture those products quickly enough to make up for plummeting sales of its older products.

The problems were exacerbated by departures of top management. As the recession deepened and spread to the computer industry, the company closed three plants and laid off more than 1,000 employees.

The company has completed much of its product reorganization, Johnson said. Instead of selling add-on boards to computer retailers, the company is now selling mostly chips and disk drives to computer makers.

In the fourth quarter ended June 30, shipments to manufacturers accounted for 80% of the company’s revenue, compared to 67% last fall.

Kathryn A. Braun, executive vice president in charge of company operations, said the company plans to improve its profitability in the competitive disk-drive market by cutting costs and emphasizing a new generation of high-capacity disk drives and components for notebook computers.

The company encountered engineering delays in its introduction of 2.5-inch disk drives, but it also hopes to launch a new generation of smaller and faster 1.8-inch disk drives in the coming year, Braun said.

DeLuca said he doesn’t expect the company to return to profitability until the April-June, 1992, period.

Besides working as a vice president at Memorex, Bragg served in various executive posts at Telex Corp. from 1981 to 1987.

He was named to Western Digital’s board in December and became acting chief financial officer in June after David Murphy left on a permanent medical leave of absence.

Johnson said Bragg’s appointment does not mean Johnson is planning to retire.

Western Digital’s Performance

Western Digital Corp., the Irvine-based maker of personal computer components, reported an annual loss of $134.2 million on revenue of $986 million. This contrasts with net income of $24.2 million on revenue of $1.07 billion a year earlier.

Figures are in thousands, except per-share data.

4th Qtr 4th Qtr 12 Months 12 Months 1991 1990 1991 1990 Revenue $253,298 $294,845 $986,201 $1,073,907 Net income (loss) (26,540) 9,476 (134,171) 24,165 Per share (loss) (0.91) 0.32 (4.59) 0.82

Source: Western Digital Corp.