ChipMOS with 5% net revenue decrease

Net revenue on a US GAAP basis for the first quarter of 2012 was NT$4,384.0 million or US$148.6 million, a decrease of 4.9% from NT$4,608.8 million or US$156.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 and a decrease of 1.9% from NT$4,469.6 million or US$151.5 million for the first quarter 2011. Results are in line with the Company's prior guidance for revenue in the seasonally slower quarter to be approximately flat-to-down in the single digits as compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. Net loss on a US GAAP basis for the first quarter of 2012 was NT$170.0 million or US$5.8 million, and NT$6.29 or US$0.21 per basic and diluted common share, which compares to net income of NT$29.1 million or US$1.0 million, and NT$1.08 or US$0.04 per basic common share and NT$1.07 or US$0.04 per diluted common share, for the fourth quarter of 2011 and to a net loss of NT$118.7 million or US$4.0 million and NT$4.61 or US$0.16 per basic and diluted common share, for the first quarter of 2011. As expected, results in the first quarter of 2012 were adversely impacted mainly by the softness of memory business. The Company also incurred a US$4.2 million foreign exchange loss in the first quarter of 2012. S.J. Cheng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ChipMOS, commented "The seasonally slower first quarter developed in line with prior guidance, with revenue sequentially lower in the single digits and gross margin of 6.2% in the middle of the 4.0% to 9.0% range we provided. Despite seasonal weakness in the quarter, our overall utilization rate exiting the quarter improved to 73%. Strength in our LCD Driver IC business was offset by added softness in our DRAM and flash testing in the first quarter. We expect a further improvement in demand as we move through 2012 and remain confident in our outlook for the year." "We continue to gain visibility as our customers become more certain in their operating plans for 2012. We recently announced that we purchased an existing building for approximately US$10 million. This was a logical transaction for us based on the valuation and the fact that the building is located directly across ChipMOS's existing facility in Southern Taiwan Science Park and features approximately 393,173 square feet of floor space." "We have absolutely no intention of increasing our 2012 capex budget from the prior expected range of US$85 million to US$95 million. Instead, we will be allocating equipment to the facility that we already own or that was already in our budget. From an operating standpoint, our target for 2012 remains to achieve revenue growth of approximately 10% compared to 2011 and to generate free cash flow of approximately US$110 million." S.K. Chen, Chief Financial Officer of ChipMOS, said, "We exited the first quarter with a strong balance of cash and cash equivalents at US$254.5 million after reducing our total debt by another US$18.1 million to US$311.2 million, which in turn further improved our net debt to equity ratio to 16.3% as of March 31, 2012 from 22.6% in Q4 2011. Our blended utilization was 73% in the first quarter, as we continued to meet customer capacity demands, while focusing on our objective of regaining greater profitability." "Our capital expenditures in the first quarter were US$19.9 million, in line with our plan of spending approximately 60% of our annual capex budget in the first half of 2012. As we have previously commented, by investing in the first half of the year we will be able to continue to support areas that will drive our future growth and profitability, including LCDD and 12-inch wafer gold bumping capacity. We generated free cash flow of US$24.5 million in Q1 2012."