Ad-hoc | 23 April 2002 08:03

Infineon Technologies AG english

Infineon Announces 2nd Quarter and Half Year 2002 Results (ended March 31) Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– S E C O N D Q U A R T E R R E S U L T S (January 1 to March 31, 2002) Semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies AG announced results for its second quarter of fiscal year 2002 ended March 31, 2002, with revenues of EUR 1.39 billion, an increase of 34 percent from the previous quarter and a decrease of 16 percent from the second quarter of fiscal year 2001. Revenues increased primarily as a result of improved market conditions, especially for memory products. In addition, demand improved for traditional telecom ICs, security and chip card ICs and ICs for automotive power applications. EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) amounted to a loss of EUR 178 million, a significant improvement from a loss of EUR 564 million in the previous quarter but down from earnings of EUR 10 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2001. The quarterly improvement in EBIT reflects an increase in demand in all business groups, a significant recovery in the price for memory products as well as the successful implementation of Infineon’s IMPACT cost savings program. Net loss amounted to EUR 108 million, a strong sequential improvement from a loss of EUR 331 million in the previous quarter but down from net income of EUR 23 million year-on-year. Net loss includes write downs of certain investments of EUR 21 million. Loss per share for the second quarter was EUR 0.16 compared with a loss per share of EUR 0.48 in the previous quarter and with earnings per share of EUR 0.04 in the second quarter of the last fiscal year. Infineon’s gross margin improved to 21 percent, up from a negative gross margin of 9 percent in the previous quarter, but down from a positive gross margin of 28 percent year-on-year. Sequential gross margin improvement was mainly due to the recovery of prices for memory chips, increased revenues in all business groups, reduced idle capacity costs as well as the impact of Infineon’s cost savings program. end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 23.04.2002 Issuer’s information/explanatory remarks concerning this ad-hoc-announcement: “Infineon’s revenue performance was driven by the overall improvement of demand in all business groups and a strong increase in prices for memory products. We were able to significantly reduce our net loss and further improve our cost position despite continued strong pricing pressure in automotive and communications,” said Dr. Ulrich Schumacher, President and CEO of Infineon Technologies AG. H A L F Y E A R R E S U L T S (October 1, 2001 to March 31, 2002) Total revenues for the first half of fiscal year 2002 were EUR 2.42 billion, down 27 percent from EUR 3.31 billion in the same period last year. EBIT for the first half of this year was a loss of EUR 742 million, which included a one- time pre-tax gain of EUR 39 million from the sale of the infrared components business, down from positive EBIT of EUR 456 million in the first half of the last fiscal year, which included a one-time pre-tax gain of EUR 202 million from the sale of the Image and Video business. Net loss amounted to EUR 439 million, down from net income of EUR 303 million year-on-year. S T R A T E G I C H I G H L I G H T S Infineon has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Winbond and agreements with Mosel Vitelic that will increase its total production capacity for DRAM chips by more than 20,000 wafer starts per month. Infineon will license its advanced DRAM trench technology to Winbond beginning in 2003. Infineon increased the share of output of its joint venture ProMOS Technologies Inc. from 38 to 48 percent, effective March 2002. Infineon expects that these strategic initiatives will help it to maintain its leading technology and cost position and strengthen its market position in the consolidating DRAM industry. O U T L O O K F O R 2 0 0 2 The market outlook for the next six months still remains somewhat uncertain and will depend on the extent and sustainability of the recovery of the world economy, particularly in Europe and the United States. There are increasing signals for an overall positive development of demand. However, Infineon expects the continuation of a tough competitive market environment and ongoing pricing pressure in most of the company’s business groups in the months ahead. The consolidation process in the memory market combined with continued strong demand and a normalization of inventory levels has led to a significant increase in DRAM prices. However, further continuation of strong demand, in particular with regard to the corporate upgrade cycle in PC and infrastructure investments as well as further increase in megabit per box demand, are prerequisites for a sustained improvement of DRAM price levels. Infineon expects the consolidation process among DRAM manufacturers to continue. Infineon anticipates that the recent moderate recovery of the market for mobile phones will continue and expects that the worldwide market for mobile handsets will grow moderately for calendar year 2002, driven primarily by the current introduction of the next GSM/GPRS generation. Infineon expects an increase in demand for security and chip card ICs due to a normalization of inventory levels. In the longer perspective further increase of demand is expected to be driven by the introduction of advanced security solutions in such areas as access control, banking, credit services, health care and public transport. However, Infineon expects that an increasingly competitive market will result in continued strong pricing pressure for smart card ICs. Infineon expects the market for telecom infrastructure to remain difficult. However, the company believes that the broadband access market will grow modestly in 2002 due to further deregulation and continued roll-out of the DSL market, especially in Europe and Asia. Although visibility remains low Infineon expects the weakness in its wireline communication business to have bottomed out. Infineon expects a moderate decline in worldwide car production in 2002, particular in Europe. Although the electronic content will further increase in all automotive applications this decline may also lead to reduced growth expectations as well as increased pricing pressure for the automotive electronics market. Infineon expects to further benefit from stronger demand for new applications such as telematics and infotainment as well as higher standards for body convenience and safety. D I S C L A I M E R This discussion includes forward-looking statements about our future business. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to future developments of the world semiconductor market, especially the market for memory products, Infineon’s future growth, the benefits of research and development alliances and activities, our planned levels of future investment in the expansion and modernization of our production capacity, the introduction of new technology at our facilities, the transitioning of our production processes to smaller structures, cost savings related to such transitioning and other initiatives, our successful development of technology based on industry standards, our ability to offer commercially viable products based on our technology, our ability to achieve our cost savings and growth targets. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of uncertainties, including trends in demand and prices for semiconductors generally and for our products in particular, the success of our development efforts, both alone and with our partners, the success of our efforts to introduce new production processes at our facilities and the actions of our competitors, the availability of funds for planned expansion efforts, as well as the other factors mentioned herein. As a result, our actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. ——————————————————————————– WKN: 623100; ISIN: DE0006231004; Index: DAX Listed: Amtlicher Handel in Frankfurt; Freiverkehr in Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München, Stuttgart; NYSE 230803 Apr 02