Thursday January 15, 2009
Navivest

ASML Holdings N.V., (ASML) the Netherlands based largest manufacturer of lithography systems that are used for the production of integrated circuits or chips, today announced its 2008 fourth quarter and full year results.

For the Q4 period, the company reported net sales of EUR 494 million versus the EUR 955 million in the year ago period. For the full year 2008, net sales were EUR 2,954 million, down 21.6 percent compared to net sales of EUR 3,768 million for full year 2007.

The company reported a net loss of EUR 88 million ($115.71 million) in the fourth quarter, which included restructuring and impairment charges of EUR 138 million. Analysts had been forecasting a loss of $107.1 million. This was the company’s first quarterly loss since 2003.

Excluding the effect of the Q4 charges net of taxes, ASML would have realized net income of EUR 11 million. In the fourth quarter of last year, the company realized a net income of EUR 193 million.
Full year 2008 net income came in at EUR 322 million or 10.9 percent of net sales, down from 2007 net income of EUR 671 million or 17.8 percent of net sales.

Net bookings for Q4 2008, were valued at EUR 127 million, which broken down, translated into a total of 13 systems, of which five were new and eight were used, for a total full year order backlog of EUR 755 million as of December 31, 2008. For the full year, the company shipped 151 systems, including 115 new and 36 used.

According to the Eric Meurice, the company’s President and CEO, “Low fourth quarter bookings of 13 units were the result of a virtual freeze in capital expenditure by most customers, due to declining utilization rates and the inability of some customers to finance their technology transition plans.”
In comparison, for full year 2007, the company shipped a total of 260 systems, including 235 new and 25 used.

For Q1 2009, the company is forecasting net sales of EUR 180 million to EUR 200 million, gross margin of about 8 percent, R&D expenditures of EUR 117 million net of credits and SG&A expenses of EUR 44 million.

One euro is equal to $1.3149

Tags: ASML  Earnings  Semiconductor Equipment Maker