15 July 2013

SemiLEDs’ revenue falls 27% from quarter to quarter

For its fiscal third-quarter 2013 (to end-May), LED chip and component maker SemiLEDs Corp of Hsinchu, Taiwan has reported revenue of $3.5m, down 27% on $4.8m last quarter and 62% on $9.2m a year ago.

Founded in 2005, SemiLEDs’ makes proprietary blue, green and ultraviolet (UV) LED chips under the MvpLED (metal vertical photon LED) brand for sale mainly to chip-packaging customers in China, Taiwan and other parts of Asia such as Korea, or to distributors who sell to packagers. It also packages chips into LED components for sale to distributors and end-customers in selected markets (mainly for general lighting applications, including street lights and commercial, industrial and residential lighting, along with specialty industrial applications such as UV curing, medical/cosmetic, counterfeit detection, and horticulture).

Gross margin has worsened further, from negative 11% a year ago and negative 69% to negative 129%. Likewise, operating margin has worsened further, from negative 87% a year ago and negative 145% last quarter to negative 278%. Margins were negatively impacted by the drop in revenue, excess capacity charges for the firm’s LED chips, and goodwill impairment charges (of $1.1m) and intangible assets that arose from the acquisition of a majority owned subsidiary in August 2011.

R&D expenses have been cut from $2.2m a year ago to $1.15m (up only slightly from $1m last quarter). Selling, general & administrative (SG&A) expenses have fallen further, from $3.2m a year ago and $2.6m last quarter to $2.2m. However, including goodwill impairment charges and impairment of long-lived assets, total operating expenses have risen from $3.6m last quarter to $5.2m (although this is still down on $6.9m a year ago).

On a non-GAAP basis, net loss was $6.6m, cut from $8m a year ago but up on $5.4m last quarter. Cash used in operating activities was $2.3m. During the quarter, cash and cash equivalents fell from $43.9m to $41.4m.

“Unfortunately the combination of a series of one-time events greatly impacted our business performance this quarter,” says chairman, president & CEO Trung Doan. “Despite this brief set-back, we remain confident we have the right strategy in place, focusing on profitable market segments where the performance and quality of our products continues to differentiate us,” he concludes.

See related items:

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SemiLEDs’ revenue down 40% on last quarter but up year-on-year

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Tags: SemiLEDs

Visit: www.semileds.com