Austriamicrosystems reports solid 2Q

austriamicrosystems reports solid results for the second quarter and first half year 2007. The first six months of 2007 reflect effects from expected product transitions as well as customer ramp-up and order patterns, with the second quarter and first half year 2007 showing a restrained development of revenues, operating profit and net income, compared to last year. Consolidated group revenues in the second quarter 2007 reached EUR 43.9 million, compared to EUR 45.9 million for the same quarter 2006. Group revenues for the first six months 2007 reached EUR 83.3 million, slightly below the EUR 84.6 million recorded in the first half 2006. The restrained revenue development in the second quarter and first half year resulted from certain slower than expected ramp-up activities and delays in continuing order patterns, mainly in the communications business, which were not fully compensated by positive developments across a range of areas in austriamicrosystems' industrial, communications and automotive markets. In the second quarter, gross margin reached almost 50% compared to 47% in the same quarter last year, driven by positive product mix effects and improvements in our manufacturing costs. For the first half of 2007, gross margin reached 49%, an increase of three percentage points from 46% in the same period 2006. Taking into account expected R&D costs for important platform developments, the result from operations (EBIT) for the second quarter was EUR 4.3 million, decreasing by EUR 1.8 million from EUR 6.1 million in the second quarter last year. The result from operations (EBIT) for the first half-year 2007 was EUR 8.0 million compared to EUR 10.4 million in the same period last year. Net income for the second quarter 2007 was EUR 4.1 million compared to EUR 5.7 million in the same period last year. Earnings per share for the second quarter were CHF 0.62 / EUR 0.38 (basic and diluted). Net income for the first half 2007 was EUR 7.6 million (CHF 1.15 / EUR 0.70 per share), compared to EUR 9.6 million (CHF 1.37 / EUR 0.87 per share) for the same period last year. Total backlog reached EUR 54.5 million on June 30, 2007, compared to EUR 54.2 million at the end of the first quarter and EUR 64.6 million on June 30, 2006. austriamicrosystems' business performance in the second quarter and first half-year confirms its attractive market position in high performance analog semiconductors. In the communications business, austriamicrosystems remains strongly positioned in advanced integrated power management for mobile devices. Its lighting management business is growing strongly as SonyEricsson continues to announce and introduce handset models incorporating advanced lighting management solutions. Global handset leader Nokia just released the first two handset models - the 6120 and 6121 - using austriamicrosystems' high performance LED camera flash solutions. Both OEMs are expected to announce additional high volume handset models with austriamicrosystems' lighting management and other products over the course of 2007 and well into 2008. In mobile entertainment, austriamicrosystems continues to be successful with its market-proven integrated audio and power management ICs as well as complete system solutions for high quality personal media players and related devices. New product generations in this product area will offer significantly lower power consumption, even higher audio quality and improved processing capabilities. austriamicrosystems' industrial and medical business continued to deliver very positive results given attractive demand for its industrial automation, sensor interface, encoder and healthcare IC solutions from important OEMs worldwide. austriamicrosystems continues to expand its product portfolio in these areas, leveraging its extensive sensor interface expertise. In the automotive market, austriamicrosystems experiences good demand for its sensor interfaces, car access and position measurement devices with leading global automotive suppliers relying on its complex automotive sensor interfaces.