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Veldhoven, Holland (pte026/19.01.2005/11:45) - Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML http://www.asml.com has more than doubled results from the previous quarter, posting a fourth quarter net profit of 109 million euros. During the year, the group moved from a net loss of 160 million euros to a net profit of 235 million euros, boosted by demand for more advanced chip-making products. As the Financial Times (FT) http://www.ft.com reports, the company has, however, disappointed analysts with its order backlog, which was much lower than expected. The Dutch chipmaker's revenue for 2004 rose 59.8 per cent to 2.465 million euros. The company posted fourth quarter revenue of 785 million euros, up by around 29 per cent from the previous year's final quarter.
http://www.asml.com/NASApp/asmldotcom/show.do?ctx=5869&rid=10402
The order backlog was 131 lithography systems at the end of December. According to the company, it had a significant backlog of orders for the next two quarters, and was cautious in its outlook for 2005 on fears of a downturn in semiconductor demand. "We have accumulated a significant backlog for deliveries in Q1 and Q2 2005," said Eric Meurice, chief executive. "However, we remain cautious in our forecast as customer order push-outs are always possible, if overall semiconductor demand were not to materialise as expected."
According to ASML, 46 per cent of its 2004 net profit was generated in the fourth quarter as the average selling price for an ASML system increased 17 per cent to 8.8 million euros from 7.5 million in the third quarter. The price increase for a new system rose 22 per cent to 10.7 million euros. "Q4 2004 was a quarter that showed strong momentum as sales increased 29 per cent from the previous quarter and 60 per cent year-to-year," said Meurice.
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