Micronic to lower expectations for its H1

The Board's earlier assessment was that order intake for the first half of 2006 would exceed SEK 600 million and that sales for the first half would exceed SEK 700 million. Sales for the full year would exceed SEK 1,500 million. The Board's current assessment is that order intake for the first half will amount to approximately SEK 400 million and that sales for the first half will remain unchanged and will exceed SEK 700 million. Sales for the full year will reach around SEK 1,500 million. The Board's revised outlook is due to the postponement of capacity increases in the display market recently announced by several suppliers. "Our customers are now holding back their production and investment rate so that the market can catch up with the capacity expansions carried out in recent years. As a result, we expect a weak market for display pattern generators throughout the remainder of the year," said Sven Lofquist, president and CEO of Micronic Laser Systems AB. "In the semiconductor market, our outlook for laser pattern generators is unchanged and we stand by the earlier assessment that Micronic has good potential to significantly increase its market shares during the year," concluded Sven Lofquist.