euro adhoc: austriamicrosystems AG
Financial Figures/Balance Sheet /
austriamicrosystems reports strong growth in revenues and earnings in the second
quarter and first six months 2006
Key financial data for the second quarter and first half of 2006
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
24.07.2006
Unterpremstaetten, Austria (July 24, 2006) austriamicrosystems (SWX: AMS) continued to grow profitably in the second quarter and first six months of 2006. The second quarter and first half of 2006 show substantial increases in revenues, margins and earnings, compared to the previous year.
Consolidated group revenues in the second quarter reached EUR 45.9 million, growing by 14% compared to the same quarter in 2005, in-line with expectations. Group revenues for the first six months of 2006 increased by 12% to EUR 84.6 million compared to the first half of 2005. In the second quarter austriamicrosystems recorded a gross margin of 47% compared to 44% in the same quarter of last year, as a result of improvements in our product mix and manufacturing costs. For the first half of the current year, gross margin reached 46%, an increase of two percentage points compared to the first six months of 2005.
The result from operations (EBIT) for the second quarter rose to EUR 6.1 million, an increase of 39% from EUR 4.4 million in the second quarter of 2005, taking into account expected R&D costs for major platform developments and SG&A expenses to support austriamicrosystems growing business. The result from operations (EBIT) for the first half-year 2006 reached EUR 10.4 million compared to EUR 8.5 million in the same period last year, an increase of 22%.
Net income for the second quarter 2006 grew by 61% to EUR 5.7 million from EUR 3.5 million in the comparable period last year. Earnings per share for the second quarter were CHF 0.81 / EUR 0.51 (basic and diluted). Net income for the first half of 2006 reached EUR 9.6 million (CHF 1.37 / EUR 0.87 per share) growing by 51% compared to EUR 6.4 million (CHF 0.90 / EUR 0.58 per share) for the same period last year. Total backlog increased further reaching EUR 64.6 million on June 30, 2006, compared to EUR 58.3 million at the end of the first quarter 2006 and EUR 54.1 million on June 30, 2005.
austriamicrosystems strong business performance in the second quarter demonstrates its attractive market position in high performance analog semiconductors. Illustrating its leadership in integrated power management and lighting for handsets, austriamicrosystems concluded a significant long-term agreement with a worldwide leader in mobile communications. In portable audio, leading North American satellite radio provider XM Satellite launched several portable receivers built around our MP3 and/or power management solutions while SanDisk, a leader in the MP3 market, successfully introduced high-capacity video-enabled MP3 players based on an integrated audio front-end from austriamicrosystems. These successes confirm austriamicrosystems excellent position in integrated solutions for the MP3 and portable media player market.
In the industrial and medical markets, austriamicrosystems saw further business expansion in metering and industrial automation and continuing growth from healthcare IC solutions. In the automotive area, austriamicrosystems was invited to join the consortium defining next-generation data bus systems in Japan and launched an automotive rotary encoder product based on its highly successful encoder technology. The foundry segment continued to perform well serving a variety of high quality customers with increasing focus on specialty processes such as High Voltage and Silicon Germanium.
The new design center in Hyderabad, India, commenced operations in the second quarter, focusing on embedded software and analog-related digital design. The new Asian test center in the Philippines set up to support the growing business in Asia-Pacific and shorten supply chains also started production in the second quarter. To support future business growth and manufacturing requirements, austriamicrosystems has begun preparations for the next capacity build-out step in its 200 mm wafer fab. The modular expansion is envisaged to increase manufacturing capacity from 6,500 WSPM to approx. 8,000 WSPM (wafer starts per month) and to be fully operational at the end of the first quarter 2007.
Looking forward, austriamicrosystems is excellently positioned for further growth. Based on available information, austriamicrosystems confirms the expectation for 2006 full year revenues to increase by between 10 and 15% compared to last year, accompanied by a significantly higher growth in earnings.
The complete half-year report 2006 including detailed financial information is available on austriamicrosystems website under http://www.austriamicrosystems.com/08ir/report.htm
end of announcement euro adhoc 24.07.2006 18:15:00
Further inquiry note:
Moritz M. Gmeiner
Director Investor Relations
Tel: +43 3136 500-5970
Fax: +43 3136 500-5420
Email: investor@austriamicrosystems.com
Branche: Technology
ISIN: AT0000920863
WKN: 632638
Börsen: SWX Swiss Exchange / official dealing