News

4 August 2006

 

Aixtron heads for break even point as order intake hits five-year high

Aixtron AG has reported financial results for H1/2006, ended June 30. The firm saw a 2% year-on-year increase in revenues, from €66.6m in H1/2005 to €67.7m in the first six months of this year. Q2/2006 revenues increased to €35.7m from the €32.0m achieved in the first quarter, but were down on the €44.4m reported for Q2/2005.

Silicon semiconductor equipment sales revenue totalled €22.9m for the first 6 months of 2006, accounting for 34% of the firm’s business, compared with €14.2m (21%) in H1/2005. Aixtron says the year-on-year increase in revenues from the sale of silicon semiconductor equipment largely reflects additional revenues generated by Genus, which was acquired by the firm in March 2005. 

Equipment order intake increased by 59% year-on-year to €81.2mn in H1/2006, and included €19.2m in orders received for silicon semiconductor equipment, or 24% of total equipment order intake in H1/2006. Order intake for compound semiconductor equipment rose 62% year-on-year to €62.0m, accounting for 76% of the total equipment order intake for the six month period.

The firms’s gross profit increased by 26% year-on-year to €25.3m in the first six months of 2006, and consequently the gross margin rose from 30% in H1/2005 to 37% in H1/2006.

Despite increased sales revenues and significant order intake growth in H1/2006, Aixtron’s net loss after tax increased from €3.7m in H1/2005 to a net loss of €4.3m in the first six months of 2006. Aixtron says the year-on-year increase net loss after tax was largely due to allocations to deferred tax assets in the first half of 2005, which did not occur in the first half of 2006. On a quarterly basis, the firm’s net loss after tax decreased from €2.6m in the second quarter of 2005 to €1.2 million in Q2/2006.

Paul Hyland, Aixtron’s CEO, said: “Equipment order intake in the second quarter of 2006, at Euro 49.5 million, is the highest recorded equipment order intake figure for 5 years and is 74 percent higher than in the second quarter of 2005. At Euro 81.2 million as of June 30, 2006, our equipment order backlog has risen by 55 percent year-over-year and is at its highest level since the third quarter of 2004.” He continued: “I am also pleased to see a continued stabilization of our gross margin which continues to move towards the targeted 40 percent mark, reaching 37 percent in the first half of 2006. This is seven percentage points higher than for the same period last year. Nevertheless, for the remainder of the year, we will continue to focus on resource efficiency improvements and cost reduction.”

Aixtron is confident it will achieve its current 2006 full year guidance of approximately €150m in revenue, and expects to break even on a net result basis in 2006 at this revenue level.

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