Ad-hoc | 8 November 2002 07:31

Infineon Technologies AG english

Infineon Announces Fiscal Year 2002 and Fourth Quarter Results Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Infineon Announces Fiscal Year 2002 and Fourth Quarter Results I N F I N E O N F I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 0 2 R E S U L T S Infineon today announced results for its fiscal year 2002, ended September 30, with revenues of EUR 5.21bn, a decrease of 8 percent from the previous fiscal year. The revenue decrease resulted from the overall sluggish semiconductor market with substantial pricing pressure in all business groups, especially Memory Products. EBIT was a loss of EUR 1.14bn, compared to a loss of EUR 1.02bn in the previous year mainly due to the ongoing price pressure in the industry and to decreased demand in the communications and chipcard ICs segments, especially during the first half of the year. Net loss amounted to EUR 1.02bn compared to a net loss of EUR 591m in the previous year. The net loss includes a non-cash charge of EUR 275m to establish a deferred tax valuation allowance. Loss per share was EUR 1.47, down from a loss per share of EUR 0.92 in fiscal year 2001. Infineon’s free cash flow significantly improved to EUR -360m from EUR – 1.99bn in fiscal year 2001. The gross cash position amounted to EUR 2bn, up from EUR 936m at the end of fiscal year 2001. F O U R T H Q U A R T E R 2 0 0 2 R E S U L T S Revenues for the fourth quarter were EUR 1.38bn, down 1 percent sequentially, but up 28 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2001. EBIT for the fourth quarter was a loss of EUR 292m, compared to a loss of EUR 107m for the previous quarter, mainly due to price-related losses in the Memory Products group. The fourth quarter 2002 EBIT loss also includes exceptional effects totaling EUR 119m such as inventory write-downs (EUR 68m), acquisition related expenses (EUR 47m) and other net charges (EUR 4m). Net loss, which includes the impact of a EUR 275m deferred tax valuation allowance, amounted to EUR 506m compared to a net loss of EUR 76m in the previous quarter and a loss of EUR 523m year-on-year. end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 08.11.2002 Issuer’s information/explanatory remarks concerning this ad-hoc-announcement: The full quarterly report will be posted on the Internet at http://www.infineon.com/news. Dr. Ulrich Schumacher, President and CEO of Infineon Technologies AG: “Despite the unexpectedly long continuation of adverse market conditions, we improved revenues in all logic segments sequentially quarter by quarter during fiscal year 2002 and achieved profitability on an operating level in three business groups in the fourth quarter.” O U T L O O K 1. H A L F F I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 0 3 “The market outlook for the coming months shows no clear signs of a sustained improvement in demand yet. We have improved our sequential revenue growth in all logic segments by 25 percent over the last four quarters in a challenging market environment. Currently, we see a stabilization of demand in mobile communications and a moderate development of demand in automotive semiconductors. However, development of demand in our wireline communications and chipcard segments remains uncertain until the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2003. And we expect continued pricing pressure in all business groups in the months ahead,” said Dr. Schumacher. In the market for mobile phones, Infineon sees a stabilization of demand, driven primarily by the further proliferation of the current generation of GSM/GPRS mobile handsets. Infineon expects an overall positive trend in the market for security and chip card ICs for fiscal year 2003, but a downward market trend until spring of 2003. Growth is expected to take place primarily in payment and identification applications. The market for telecom infrastructure is also expected to remain difficult in the first half of fiscal year 2003, due to continuing weak capital expenditures by global carriers. However, the company believes that the broadband access market (ADSL / VDSL) will continue to grow modestly in the current fiscal year, especially in Asia and Japan. Worldwide automobile production is expected to stabilize in 2003 with increasing pricing pressure on automotive electronics and automotive semiconductor suppliers. However, Infineon anticipates a moderate growth of its automotive semiconductor business in the current fiscal year based on further increasing electronic content in all automotive applications, the company’s strategic customer base, further market penetration in North America and Japan and higher standards for safety as well as body & convenience. Despite the current increase in demand and prices for memory products, it is too early to assume a sustained market improvement. Infineon will continue to concentrate on reducing its DRAM manufacturing costs, extending the range of its DRAM product offerings and improving its memory product mix. P R E S S – and T E L E P H O N E C O N F E R E N C E Infineon Management will host a press conference on November 8, 5:00 am Eastern Standard Time (U.S. EST), 11:00 am Central European Time (CET). The company will also conduct a telephone conference with analysts and investors at 9:00 am (U.S. EST), 3:00 p.m. (CET), to discuss operating performance of the fiscal year 2002. A broadcast of both conferences will be available live and for download on Infineon’s web site at: http://www.infineon.com 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 Markt in Frankfurt; Freiverkehr in Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München, Stuttgart; NYSE 080731 Nov 02