BILTHOVEN, The Netherlands, July 29, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- ASM International N.V. (Nasdaq:ASMI) (AEX:ASM):
-- Second quarter Net Sales of EUR 140.9 million, up 40.1% from the previous quarter
-- Second quarter Net Loss of EUR 6.4 million or EUR (0.13) per share as compared to a Net Loss of EUR 12.2 million or EUR (0.25) per share for the previous quarter
-- Second quarter Bookings of EUR 169.1 million, up 56.3% from previous quarter
-- Quarterend Backlog of EUR 168.4 million, up 20.1% from the previous quarter, BooktoBill ratio for the second quarter of 1.2
*** Please click the following link to see the press release including financial results: http://reports.huginonline.com/867801/106030.pdf
ASM International N.V. (NASDAQ: ASMI and AEX: ASM) reported today the operating results for the second quarter of 2002. The net loss for the second quarter of 2002 amounted to EUR 6.4 million or EUR 0.13 diluted net loss per share compared to net earnings of EUR 9.3 million or EUR 0.19 diluted net earnings per share for the second quarter of 2001. By comparison the net loss for the first quarter of 2002 amounted to EUR 12.2 million or EUR 0.25 diluted net loss per share.
For the six months ended June 30, 2002 the net loss amounted to EUR 18.6 million or EUR 0.38 diluted net loss per share, compared to net earnings of EUR 27.9 million or EUR 0.56 diluted net earnings per share for the same period in 2001.
Net sales
Net sales for the second quarter of 2002 amounted to EUR 140.9 million, 40.1% above the sales level of EUR 100.6 million in the first quarter of 2002 and a decline of 8.0% compared to net sales of EUR 153.1 million for the same period last year.
Net sales for the first half of 2002, amounted to EUR 241.4 million, 31.8% lower than the EUR 353.8 million net sales for the first half of 2001. Net sales of the company's Frontend wafer processing equipment amounted to EUR 122.2 million compared to EUR 211.4 million for the first half of 2001, a decrease of 42.2%. Net sales for the Backend assembly and packaging equipment and materials amounted to EUR 119.2 million compared to EUR 142.4 million for the first half of 2001, a decrease of 16.3%.
The semiconductor equipment market is recovering slightly from one of the most severe downturns in the semiconductor industry, which started late 2000 and continued until early 2002. ASMI has seen an increased level of customer interest and orders, both in its Frontend activities with its new generation 300mm tools and in its Backend activities with its new generation wire bonders. This increased order activity has already resulted in a higher level of sales compared to the first quarter of 2002, in particular in the Backend operations as leadtimes are typically shorter as compared to the Frontend operations.
Operations
The gross profit margin for the second quarter of 2002 amounted to 37.8% of net sales, 4.8 percentage points above the gross profit margin of 33.0% for the previous quarter. The gross profit margin for the first half of 2002 amounted to 35.8%, a decrease of 6.0 percentage points compared to 41.8% gross profit margin in the first half of 2001. The increase in the second quarter compared to the first quarter is primarily the result of the spread of the fixed manufacturing costs over a higher sales volume and secondly the mix of products sold. Similarly the lower sales volume and the mix of products sold in the first half of 2002 compared to the first half of 2001 resulted in a decrease of gross profit margin.
Selling, general and administrative costs were EUR 28.6 million in the second quarter of 2002, compared to EUR 22.4 million in the first quarter of 2002, an increase of 27.6%, and an increase of 4.4% compared to EUR 27.4 million for the second quarter of 2001. Selling, general and administrative expenses were 21.1% of net sales for the first half of 2002, compared to 16.7% of net sales for the first half of 2001. The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses in the second quarter of 2002 as compared to the first quarter of 2002 was primarily due to higher sales commissions on the increased level of sales and an increase in support and customer service staff levels as a result of the higher level of activity.
Research and development expenses increased from EUR 19.8 million or 12.9% of net sales in the second quarter of 2001 to EUR 21.7 million or 15.4% of net sales in the second quarter of 2002 and was slightly above the EUR 20.5 million in research and development expenses in the first quarter of 2002. For the first half of 2002 research and development expenses increased by 9.0% compared to the same period last year, and as a percentage of net sales from 11.0% to 17.5%. ASMI continued to keep the research and development expenses at a high level despite the market circumstances and concentrated its investments in research and development on the equipment and product solutions for the next generations of semiconductor devices. In the company's Frontend, these investments were concentrated on highk dielectrics, lowk dielectrics, Atomic Layer CVD, copper, RTP and 300mm process applications while in the Backend the concentration was on performance improvements and release of new and upgraded products as the new generation Eagle gold wire ball bonder.
Amortization of goodwill. As of January 1, 2002 ASMI adopted SFAS 142 "Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets". This new accounting standard requires that goodwill not be amortized, but rather be tested at least annually for impairment. Consequently, ASMI stopped amortizing goodwill as of January 1, 2002. ASMI did not record an impairment loss upon adoption of SFAS 142. Amortization of goodwill in the first quarter of 2001 amounted to EUR 1.9 million and for the first half year of 2001 to EUR 3.8 million.
Earnings (loss) from operations amounted to earnings of EUR 3.0 million in the second quarter of 2002, a decline of 80.2% as compared to the same period of 2001. For the first half of 2002, earnings from operations amounted to a loss of EUR 6.8 million, compared to earnings of EUR 46.3 million for the first half of 2001. Before amortization of goodwill, the adjusted earnings from operations for the second quarter of 2001 were EUR 16.9 million compared to earnings of EUR 3.0 million in the second quarter of 2002.
Net interest and other financial income (expenses) decreased from a net expense of EUR 0.6 million in the second quarter of 2001 to a net expense of EUR 2.3 million in the second quarter of 2002. In the first half year of 2002 the net expense amounted to EUR 4.6 million compared to a net income of EUR 0.6 million for the first half of 2001. The net income in the first half of 2001 resulted from a small interest expense and transaction gains resulting from the increase of the United States dollar and the Hong Kong dollar versus the euro, the reporting currency. The net expense in the first half of 2002 was the result of increased borrowings and the full impact of our US$ 115.0 million 5% convertible notes, issued in November 2001, EUR 0.8 million in amortization of debt issuance costs related to these convertible notes and a small foreign exchange loss, offset by low interest income on our cash and cash equivalents during this period.
Bookings and backlog
New orders in the second quarter of 2002 amounted to EUR 169.1 million, 56.3% higher than the level of net new orders received in the first quarter of 2002. For the first half of 2002 the total of new orders amounted to EUR 277.3 million. The backlog at the end of June 2002 stood at EUR 168.4 million, an increase of 20.1% compared to the backlog of EUR 140.2 million at the end of March 2002. The booktobill ratio for the second quarter of 2002 was 1.20 compared to 1.08 in the first quarter of 2002. Of the backlog at June 30, 2002 EUR 118.4 million relates to Frontend operations and EUR 50.0 million to Backend operations.
Outlook
Increased order activity and customer requests for production slots and quotations for both Frontend and Backend over the past few months led to an increase in sales volumes as early as the second quarter of 2002.
ASMI believes it is well positioned in the Frontend segment of the semiconductor equipment market due to its strategies in 300 mm, lowk, highk, SiGe and copper, and in the Backend segment due to its established position as a leading supplier of a full spectrum of innovative products and its recently introduced next generation wire bonders.
ASMI also strongly believes that its firm commitment to research and development, its readiness in new technologies, designin wins at toptier customers as well as our strategic partnerships provide ASMI with a broad basis for substantial longterm market share gains.
Based on the selection of ASMI's new technologies by top tier customers as well as the increased level of orders booked during the second quarter of 2002, ASMI anticipates a continued growth of sales and improvement of the bottom line for the second half of 2002, compared to the first half of this year, and also into 2003.
ASM INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CALL
ASM International will host an investor conference call and web cast on
TUESDAY, July 30, 2002 at 9:00 a.m. US Eastern time 15:00 Continental European time.
The teleconference dialin numbers are as follows:
United States: 888.273.9887
International: 612.332.0226
The teleconference will be available for digitized replay from 2:30 p.m. (U.S. Eastern time) on Tuesday, July 30, 2002 through Thursday, August 1, 2002 at 11:59 p.m. (U.S. Eastern time). The replay numbers are:
United States: 800.475.6701
International: 320.365.3844
In both cases, the following access code is required: 644471. A simultaneous audio web cast will be accessible at www.asm.com and www.companyboardroom.com
About ASM
ASM International N.V. based in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, is a global company servicing one of the most important and demanding industries in the world. The Company possesses a strong technology base, stateoftheart manufacturing facilities, a competent and qualified workforce and a highly trained, strategically distributed support network. ASM International and its subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International and its subsidiaries provide production solutions for wafer processing (frontend segment) as well as assembly and packaging (backend segment) through facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock trades on NASDAQ (symbol ASMI) and the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASMI's website at http://www.asm.com
Safe Harbor Statement under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All matters discussed in this statement, except for any historical data, are forwardlooking statements. Forwardlooking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forwardlooking statements. These include, but are not limited to, economic conditions and trends in the semiconductor industry, currency fluctuations, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, litigation involving intellectual property, shareholder and other issues, commercial and economic disruption due to terrorist activity, armed conflict or political instability and other risks indicated in the company's filings from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the company's report on Form 20F and Form 6K as filed.
CONTACT:
Investor Contacts Robert de Bakker, 31 30 229 8540
Mary Jo Dieckhaus, 1 212 986 2900