news digest ♦ Equipment and Materials
First quarter 2014 Data Storage revenues were $20 million, up from $17 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. EBITA loss was $3 million, significantly improved from last quarter’s loss, benefiting from higher volume, an improvement in gross margins to 37 percent, and lower operating spending. As forecasted, our investments in next generation products and in our growth businesses caused cash to decline modestly during the quarter. Yet our cash and investments balance remains strong at $483 million.”
Peeler continued, “Veeco’s first quarter 2014 orders improved by 21 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 to $103 million, the highest level we have reported in nearly two years. This increase was driven by a 59 percent sequential improvement in MOCVD orders to $83 million, which represents the highest amount booked since the third quarter of 2011. Orders were received from top LED customers throughout Asia and elsewhere.”
First quarter 2014 Data Storage and MBE orders each declined from the fourth quarter of 2013, to $15 million and $5 million, respectively.
Second Quarter 2014 Guidance and Outlook
Veeco’s second quarter 2014 revenue is currently forecasted to be between $87 million and $97 million. Earnings per share are currently forecasted to be between ($0.46) to ($0.36) on a GAAP basis.
Peeler commented, “After a long downturn in our MOCVD business, LED fab utilisation rates have improved to high levels at most key accounts and LED adoption is happening faster than many had expected. Our customers are also reporting better market demand for LED backlighting products. It is encouraging to see that our leading customers are beginning to place orders for capacity expansions.»
« We currently anticipate that Veeco’s second quarter 2014 orders will be similar to or better than first quarter orders. Yet, the timing and magnitude of key customer expansions could cause MOCVD orders to be lumpy and somewhat unpredictable on a quarterly basis, and we lack the visibility to see into the second half of the year. We continue to invest in MOCVD product and technology development to further improve our customers’ cost of ownership and manufacturing capability.”
Peeler concluded, “We are pleased to have made progress improving Veeco’s profitability and remain focused on our strategy to turn around our performance: 1) developing and launching game-changing new products that enable cost effective LED lighting, flexible OLED encapsulation and other emerging technologies; 2) improving customer cost of ownership as well as our gross margins; 3) driving process improvement initiatives to make us more efficient; and 4) lowering expenses.”
Aixtron orders and revenues up year-on-year
The boost in revenues was mainly due to inventory write-downs and restructuring charges included in the previous years’ figures, However, the company is not expected to be profitable on an EBIT basis over the course of this year
Aixtron SE has announced revenues of EUR (€) 43.9 million for the first quarter of 2014, representing a year-on-year improvement of 9 percent.
Q1/2014 EBIT at €10.9 million and net result at €11.8 million were both up year-on-year by 86 percent and 84 percent respectively.
This development was mainly due to inventory write-downs and restructuring charges included in the previous years’ figures, but also reflects a reduction in operating costs.
Aixtron’s order intake in Q1 2014 improved by 26 percent year- on-year to €37.7 million
Financial Highlights
Capacity utilisation rates at LED manufacturers remain at relatively high levels and demand for LEDs continues to be on the rise. Despite this, there was still no noticeable increase in investments in LED manufacturing capacity expansions in Q1/2014 as depicted in the graph below.
Thus, Aixtron generated total revenues of €43.9 million for the quarter. This is a 9 percent increase from the €40.2 million in
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www.compoundsemiconductor.net June 2014
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