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News Article

Aixtron expecting further Growth in 2011

Successful market penetration of the firm’s latest generation systems and early demand for LED lighting production equipment will see an increase in R&D capacity after an excellent year.

Aixtron SE, a global provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, delivered in 2010, for the third year in succession, the best operational performance in its history with €783.8m of revenues and a 35% EBIT margin. Guidance for 2011 has been set at € 800-900m of revenues with an EBIT margin of circa 35%.

 


Financial Data for Fiscal 2009 & 2010


 



 

 

 

In fiscal year 2010, Aixtron’s revenues were slightly higher than previously guided, at € 783.8m, which is over two and a half times more than the 2009 total revenue figure of € 302.9m.

The Company’s gross profit increased by 206% to € 411.8m in 2010, more than tripling the 2009 figure of € 134.7m, in line with higher revenues and a lower cost of sales percentage, resulting in a nine percentage points higher gross margin of 53% (2009: 44%).

The operating result significantly increased by 339% from € 62.7m in 2009 to € 275.5m in 2010, with a 14 percentage points higher EBIT margin of 35% (2009: 21%).

Net income came in at € 192.5m, an increase of 330% over the 2009 figure of € 44.8m and results in basic earnings per share of € 1.93 for the full year 2010 (2009: € 0.49).

As with revenue development; equipment order intake significantly increased in 2010 and was 102% up year on year, at € 748.3m (2009: € 370.1m). Over the four quarters of the year, orders slightly, but steadily increased to € 204.0 in Q4/2010. Latest generation systems made up 55% of those Q4 orders.

The total equipment order backlog of € 274.8m at December 31, 2010 was 35% higher than at the same point in time in 2009 with € 203.8m.

Dividend proposal

The Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose to Aixtron’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in May 2011 to pay a dividend of € 0.60 per share, which is four times the dividend figure paid out in 2010. This would result in a dividend payout of € 60.7m to shareholders and a pay-out ratio of 31.5% based on the group net income.

Management Review

Paul Hyland, President & CEO at Aixtron, comments: “I think we can afford to very briefly enjoy this moment and have good reason to be proud of this remarkable result with revenues, in USD-terms, of more than one billion.”

“What we saw in 2010, was not only a continuation of the market driven demand for LEDs for TV backlighting, but also an increased effect of government sponsored demand and some early encouraging investments by customers beginning to position themselves for the emerging LED lighting market.”

“The market we serve today has clearly been transformed from one small technical niche market into two significantly larger and sustainable mass markets; namely consumer electronics and utility lighting. In a very short period of time, the industry has found that essential ‘critical mass’.”

“The foundation of our success in the past has been our commitment to innovative Research and Development and focused market-led Engineering, and these are exactly the same qualities that are required to compete in the bigger and more dynamic markets we will be serving in the future. The substantial R&D investments we are making today are a reflection of our commitment to deliver increasingly customer focused solutions for that future,” concluded Hyland.

Outlook

Aixtron entered the year with a very solid opening order backlog of € 302.3m (revalued from € 274.8m at USD 1.35/€ as of January 1, 2011), all shippable in 2011. Aixtron’s Management believes that, with this foundation, Aixtron can deliver total revenues of € 800-900m and an EBIT margin of around 35% in fiscal year 2011.

Investor Conference Call

Aixtron will host a financial analyst and investor conference call on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 3:00 p.m. CET (6:00 a.m. PST, 09:00 a.m. EST) to review the full year 2010 results.

From 2:45 p.m. CET (5:45 a.m. PST, 8:45 a.m. EST) you can dial in to the call at +49 (69) 247501–899 or +1 (212) 444–0297.

A conference call audio replay or a transcript of the conference call will be available at http://www.aixtron.com, section “Investors/Reports/Presentations”, following the conference call.

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