Soitec Reports Strong Consolidated Sales Growth for Q3 and YTD 9 months 2006-2007
• New record in Q3 at 99.6 million Euros driven by 300 mm wafer sales with annual growth of 63.5%
• 9 month cumulative sales growth above 50% in performance
• Group cautious for the short term and anticipates Q4 in line with Q3
• Customer contract worth 40 million Euros renewed for 2007
Bernin, France, January 15, 2007 - Soitec (Euronext Paris), the leading manufacturer of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers and other engineered substrates, today announced consolidated sales of 99.6 million Euros for the third quarter of the financial year 2006-2007. In absolute terms, this represents annual growth of 40.4% and 11.1% sequentially. Group sales totalled 274.9 million Euros for the nine months year to date representing annual growth of 48.1% or above 50% in performance.
| Sales (Euros millions) | 2006-2007 | 2005-2006 | Growth |
| First Quarter | 85.6 | 51.2 | +67.1% |
| Second Quarter | 89.7 | 63.4 | +41.5% |
| Third Quarter | 99.6 | 70.9 | +40.4% |
| YTD 9 months | 274.9 | 185.5 | +48.1% |
300mm demand remains very strong
Demand for 300mm wafers remains very strong with sales in the quarter increasing by 63.5% year on year or 74.5% in performance and 17.3% on a sequential basis. This volume growth underscores total third quarter wafer sales of 96.7 million Euros equal to annual growth of 43.0% or 51.8% in performance and 12.7% sequentially.
Cumulatively and with a weight of 68%, 300mm recorded annual growth of 75.9% or 81.4% in performance. Total wafer sales annual growth is 49.3% or 53.6% in performance.
Licensing revenues of 0.8 million Euros were recorded in the quarter giving 2.5 million Euros for the 9 months year to date period and the recently acquired Tracit contributed 0.4 million Euros.
Picogiga’s traditional RF markets were soft with sales of 1.7 million Euros in the quarter resulting in 9-month cumulative growth of 17.5%.
Group cautious for Q4 in the light of short term market considerations
Recent uncertainties related to the customer inventory chain in the game consoles market and anticipated weaker demand in the traditional Picogiga markets are behind the cautious stance adopted by the group for the fourth quarter, which the group now expects to be in line with the third quarter.
The group therefore anticipates that the second half operating margin is likely to be similar to the first half. A good manufacturing performance for SOI despite the volume adjustment in Q4 is likely to be offset by the unfavourable exchange climate and weaker traditional Picogiga activity. Picogiga continues its significant involvement in strategic R&D initiatives to develop new III-V products as well as advanced materials for solid-state lightning. The group’s strategic R&D programmes including official grant approval negotiations are proceeding satisfactorily as planned.
Almost all remaining holders of the 2001-2006 convertible bonds took advantage of the favourable conditions immediately prior to redemption with the result that 35 million Euros worth of bonds were converted into equity. This provides an important reduction in interest costs that will have a favourable impact on net income.
Recent development
Soitec recently renewed an ongoing SOI wafer supply contract for almost 40 million Euros for the calendar year 2007. This order comes under the terms of the agreement for supply of 200 mm & 125 mm UNIBOND™ SOI wafers manufactured using Soitec’s proprietary Smart Cut™ process.
Reporting Calendar
Full year sales for 2006-2007 will be published on Tuesday 16 April 2007 after the close of the Paris
Stock Exchange.
About The Soitec Group
The Soitec Group is the world’s leading innovator and provider of the engineered substrates that serve as the foundation for today’s most advanced electronic products and nanotechnologies. Headquartered in Bernin, France, the company manufactures its comprehensive portfolio of engineered substrates, including silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and strained SOI (sSOI), using Soitec’s proprietary Smart Cut™ technology—the de facto industry standard. With its strong global presence, patented technology and industry-leading production capacity, Soitec is helping to drive the performance and power advantages that are key to the smaller, more power efficient, and increasingly mobile
electronic products favoured by consumers worldwide. Both shares and convertible bonds are listed on Euronext Paris.
Soitec, Smart Cut and UNIBOND are trademarks of S.O.I.TEC Silicon On Insulator Technologies
For further information, please contact:
Iain Murray
Chief Financial Officer
Tel. +33 4 76 92 75 14
E-mail: investors@soitec.fr
Olivier Brice
Investor Relations – Financial Communication
Tel. +33 4 76 92 93 80
E-mail: olivier.brice@soitec.fr