Camtek posts Q1 loss of $4.4 million

Revenues for the first quarter of 2007 were $14.5 million, 41.8% below the $24.9 million as reported in the first quarter of last year, and 31% below the $21.0 million as reported in the fourth quarter of 2006. Gross profit for the first quarter of 2007 was $6.0 million, representing a gross margin of 41.5%. This is compared with gross profit of $13.1 million or gross margin of 52.5%, as reported in the first quarter of last year and gross profit of $9.3 million, or gross margin of 44.5% as reported in the fourth quarter of 2006. Operating loss for the first quarter of 2007 was $4.4 million compared with the operating loss of $2.4 million as reported in the previous quarter. In the first quarter of 2006 the Company reported an operating profit of $4.4 million. First quarter net loss was $4.3 million or (14) cents per share on a fully diluted basis. This compares with a net profit of $4.4 million, or 16 cents per share on a fully diluted basis, as reported in the first quarter of 2006. Fourth quarter 2006 net loss was $2.2 million, or (7) cents per basic share. “The current state of business in the microelectronics industry has been affecting our revenues from these markets," commented Rafi Amit, Camtek's CEO. “We still see some requests from customers to delay delivery, but we believe that we are maintaining our position in these markets. In addition, as we stated in our previous announcement, our sales to the PCB industry also declined this quarter. We believe that this is a temporary softening in the market due to the Chinese holidays." Mr. Amit added, “Regarding the PCB market, we are happy to report a warm welcome for the new line of Dragon models, which we recently introduced. We recently won orders from new strategic customers and further established our technological reputation and competitive position. Nevertheless, we continue to closely monitor our expense levels and we are adjusting them to our current and expected level of activity." Mr. Amit concluded, “Based on our current information, we expect to report in the second quarter between $15 and 17 million in revenues."