April 4 (Reuters) - Microchip Technology Inc :

* Microchip technology completes Atmel acquisition and provides update on its fiscal fourth quarter 2016

* Expects net sales for fiscal q4 ended march 31, 2016 to be between mid-point and high end of guidance of $552.0 million to $568.5 million

* Expects Q4 non-GAAP earnings per share to be near high end of its February 3, 2016 guidance of 65 cents to 69 cents per share

* Atmel’s net sales are expected to be in range of $219 million to $221 million in its quarter ended march 31, 2016

* Atmel’s sales, earnings for quarter ending march 31, 2016 are expected to be significantly lower than december 31, 2015 quarterly results

* In consolidating Atmel’s results, it expects to treat mobile touch business of Atmel as an asset held for sale

* Q4 earnings per share view $0.67, revenue view $560.3 million -- Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S

* Says will report net profit/loss of mobile touch business below operating line of microchip’s income statement

* “performance of Atmel since we engaged in discussions in august of 2015 has been disappointing”

* “believe that large drop in Atmel revenue in march quarter is likely result of an inventory correction in distribution channel”

* “we took some of the weakness into consideration in dropping final acquisition price from our original offer” Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Bengaluru Newsroom: +1-646-223-8780)