Exhibit 99.1 

 

 

 

Actions Semiconductor Reports First Quarter 2015 Results

 

 

ZHUHAI, China, May 12, 2015 -- Actions Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACTS) (“Actions Semiconductor” or “the Company”), one of China's leading fabless semiconductor companies that provides comprehensive portable multimedia and mobile internet system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for portable consumer electronics, today reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015.

 

First Quarter 2015 Results

 

All financial results are reported on a U.S. GAAP basis.

 

Revenue for the first quarter of 2015 was $10.5 million, as compared to revenue of $13.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2014, and $11.3 million for the first quarter of 2014.

 

Actions Semiconductor reported gross profit in the first quarter of $2.5 million, as compared with negative $2.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and $2.6 million in the first quarter of 2014. Gross profit for the first quarter of 2015 benefited from sales of certain lower-margin, slower moving inventories which were written-down in the second half of 2014. Gross margin was 23.5% for the first quarter of 2015, compared to gross margin of negative 19.2% for the fourth quarter of 2014, and 23.1% for the first quarter of 2014. Gross margin continued to be impacted by fierce competition in the tablet market.

 

Operating expenses in the first quarter of 2015 were $9.5 million, as compared to $10.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and $9.2 million in the first quarter of 2014. Research and development expenses were $6.8 million for the first quarter, as compared to $7.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and $6.8 million in the first quarter of 2014. General and administrative expenses were $2.0 million in the first quarter, as compared to $2.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and $2.0 million in the first quarter of 2014. Selling and marketing expenses were $0.6 million for the first quarter, as compared to $0.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and $0.4 million in the first quarter of 2014. Impairment on intangible assets was nil in the first quarter, as compared to $0.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and nil in the first quarter of 2014.

 

Operating loss for the first quarter of 2015 was $7.0 million, as compared to the operating loss of $13.3 million in fourth quarter of 2014 and the operating loss of $6.1 million in the first quarter of 2014.

 

Interest income for the first quarter of 2015 was $1.6 million, down from $1.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and $3.1 million in the first quarter of 2014. The year-over-year decrease was due to lower cash and interest bearing securities following the Dutch auction tender offer in September 2014.

 

Net loss attributable to Actions Semiconductor's shareholders for the first quarter of 2015 was $5.0 million or $0.085 per basic and diluted American Depositary Share ("ADS"). This compares to net loss attributable to Actions Semiconductor's shareholders of $12.2 million or $0.206 per basic and diluted ADS, for the fourth quarter of 2014, and net loss attributable to Actions Semiconductor’s shareholders of $5.5 million or $0.080 per basic and diluted ADS, for the first quarter of 2014.

 

“Revenue in the first quarter came in at the mid-range of our expectations. Overall demand was slow, primarily due to the Chinese New Year holiday, which causes a slowdown in production by consumer electronics manufacturers in China, and softer demand for tablets, which currently account for the largest proportion of our application processor shipments, as the worldwide tablet market experienced a year-over-year decline in shipments for the second consecutive quarter. Our multimedia business exceeded expectations, thanks to strong demand for our Bluetooth 4.0 solutions for speakers and boomboxes and an abatement in the supply shortage from our wafer foundry,” stated Dr. Zhenyu Zhou, CEO of Actions Semiconductor.

 

“We entered 2015 armed with a portfolio of leading edge new products that address a wide range of new and profitable markets. We expect our new single chip Bluetooth 4.0 solution for boomboxes, speakers, headphones and related products to be the driving force in our multimedia business. We have two new chipsets based on 28nm process technology targeting branded tablets, OTT set-top boxes and other cloud connected devices. We began shipping our 28nm based 32-bit quad-core solution to the tablet and OTT set-top box markets in the first quarter and expect a significant volume increase in the second quarter and beyond. Our high performance 64-bit SoC is attracting strong customer interest and design wins and is expected to make meaningful contributions to revenue and gross profit in the second half of 2015. We are also supporting the open source intelligent hardware community for Android and Linux with the launch of 32-bit and 64-bit open-source SoCs S500 and S900 and reference design platforms, which we believe will drive development of differentiated new products for various cloud connected devices. We believe these new products will support revenue growth of 20% to 25% and good margin improvement in 2015,” Dr. Zhou concluded.

 

 
 

 

 

Financial Condition

 

The Company ended the first quarter of 2015 with $162.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, together with time deposits, trading securities and marketable securities. Total current assets were approximately $188.5 million, and the Company had working capital of approximately $127.2 million and $45.0 million in short-term bank loans as of March 31, 2015. 

 

Since the share repurchase program commenced in 2007, the Company has invested approximately $80.0 million in repurchasing its ADSs and ordinary shares, including $25.0 million representing the equivalent of 10.0 million ADSs repurchased through a Dutch auction tender offer in September 2014. As of March 31, 2015, the equivalent of approximately 34.3 million ADSs were repurchased. As of March 31, 2015, total number of outstanding ordinary shares (including ordinary shares represented by ADSs) was 351,667,139.

 

 

Business Outlook

 

The following statements are based upon management's current expectations. These statements are forward-looking, and actual results may differ materially. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements.

 

Based on current market trends, the Company expects revenue in the second quarter of 2015 to be in the range of $13.0 to $14.0 million. The Company expects shipments of its newly launched products to ramp quickly in the upcoming quarter and accelerate in the second half of 2015.

 

Conference Call Details

 

Actions Semiconductor's management will conduct an earnings conference call offering prepared remarks on the first quarter of fiscal year 2015, new products, business outlook and other matters. While the Company continues to welcome written questions and comments from its shareholders, the management will not be conducting a question and answer session during the call.

 

The teleconference and webcast is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time, on Tuesday, May 12, 2015. To participate in the live call, analysts and investors should dial 1-888-468-2440 (within U.S.) or 1-719-325-2494 (outside U.S.) at least ten minutes prior to the call. The conference ID number is 7788731. Actions Semiconductor will also offer a live and archived webcast of the conference call, accessible from the "Investor Relations" section of the Company's website at www.actions-semi.com. An audio replay of the call will be available to investors through May 23, 2015 by dialing 1-888-203-1112 (within U.S.) or 1-719-457-0820 (outside U.S.) and entering access code 7788731.

 

About Actions Semiconductor

 

Actions Semiconductor is one of China's leading fabless semiconductor companies that provides comprehensive portable multimedia and mobile internet system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions for portable consumer electronics. Actions Semiconductor products include SoCs, firmware, software, solution development kits, as well as detailed specifications of other required components. Actions Semiconductor also provides total product and technology solutions that allow customers to quickly introduce new portable consumer electronics to the mass market in a cost effective way. The Company is headquartered in Zhuhai, China, with offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Taipei. For more information, please visit the Actions Semiconductor website at http://www.actions-semi.com.

 

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

 

Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include statements concerning the outlook for its new products enabled by 28nm process technology and 64-bit CPU for tablets and high-end OTT set-top boxes, 32-bit and 64-bit open-source SoCs and reference design platforms, and new single chip SoC for Bluetooth boomboxes, customer acceptance of the Actions Semiconductor’s new products and corresponding increases in market share, Actions Semiconductor's belief that it is positioned to capture some upside from its new products and Actions Semiconductor's future expectations with respect to revenue and gross margin. Actions Semiconductor uses words like "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "project" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These forward-looking statements are estimates reflecting current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events and involve significant risks, both known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Actions Semiconductor's actual performance, financial condition or results of operations to be materially different from those suggested by the forward-looking statements including, among others, customers' cancellation or modification of their orders; our failure to accurately forecast demand for our products; the loss of, or a significant reduction in orders from, any of our significant customers; fluctuations in our operating results; our inability to develop and sell new products; defects in or failures of our products; the expense and uncertainty involved in our customer design-win efforts; the financial viability of the distributors of our products; consumer demand; worldwide economic and political conditions; fluctuations in our costs to manufacture our products; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, test, assemble and ship our products; our ability to retain and attract key personnel; our ability to compete with our competitors; and our ability to protect our intellectual property rights and not infringe the intellectual property rights of others. Other factors that may cause our actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release and that may affect our prospects in general are described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recently filed Forms F-1, 20-F and 6-Ks. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on Actions Semiconductor's future results, performance or achievements. In light of these risks, uncertainties, assumptions and factors, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release may not occur. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated, or if no date is stated, as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, Actions Semiconductor undertakes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect subsequent events or changed assumptions or circumstances.

 

 
 

 

Investor Contacts:  
Elaine Ketchmere, CFA Ally Xie, CA, CPA
Compass Investor Relations Actions Semiconductor
eketchmere@compass-ir.com investor.relations@actions-semi.com
+1-310-528-3031 +86-756-3392353*1018

  

 
 

 

ACTIONS SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
CONSOLIDATED CONDENSED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands of U.S. dollars)

 

   At March 31,   At December 31,   At March 31, 
   2015   2014   2014 
   (unaudited)   (audited)   (unaudited) 
ASSETS               
Current assets:               
Cash and cash equivalents   61,855    78,177    40,596 
Time deposit   5,632    5    322 
Restricted deposits   51,786    51,590    37,823 
Marketable securities   43,035    38,384    124,509 
Trading securities   72    70    73 
Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $68, $558 and $23
as of March 31, 2015, December 31, 2014 and March 31, 2014, respectively
   2,833    2,832    6,784 
Amount due from a related party   555    1,650    725 
Notes receivable   -    161    - 
Amount due from an equity method investee   48    41    42 
Inventories, net of inventory written-down of $6,942, $7,718 and $1,965 as of
March 31, 2015, December 31, 2014 and March 31, 2014, respectively
   14,978    13,970    25,308 
Prepaid expenses and other current assets   5,689    4,511    3,466 
Income tax recoverable   345    186    46 
Deferred tax assets   1,644    1,179    578 
Total current assets   188,472    192,756    240,272 
                
Investments in equity method investees   27,323    27,352    17,779 
Other investments   15,627    15,627    15,627 
Marketable securities   -    -    16,099 
Rental deposits   65    54    70 
Property, plant and equipment, net   29,929    30,327    31,142 
Land use right   1,505    1,514    1,542 
Acquired intangible assets, net   15,345    16,459    10,862 
Deposit paid for acquisition of intangible assets   547    538    380 
Deferred tax assets   49    53    93 
TOTAL ASSETS   278,862    284,680    333,866 
                
LIABILITIES AND EQUITY               
Current liabilities:               
Accounts payable   6,633    5,790    9,992 
Amount due to a related party   162    259    - 
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities   7,148    8,349    5,024 
Short-term bank loans   45,000    45,000    40,500 
Other liabilities   1,929    1,929    1,331 
Income tax payable   49    49    49 
Deferred tax liabilities   314    160    417 
Total current liabilities   61,235    61,536    57,313 
                
Other liabilities   -    -    370 
Payable for acquisition of intangible assets   155    155    - 
Deferred tax liabilities   883    919    3,493 
Total liabilities   62,273    62,610    61,176 
                
Equity:               
Ordinary shares   1    1    1 
Additional paid-in capital   63,051    63,046    63,007 
Treasury Stock   (70,964)   (70,479)   (44,423)
Accumulated other comprehensive income   36,933    36,937    36,672 
Retained earnings   187,601    192,598    217,464 
Total Actions Semiconductor Co., Ltd. shareholders' equity   216,622    222,103    272,721 
Non-controlling interest   (33)   (33)   (31)
Total equity   216,589    222,070    272,690 
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY   278,862    284,680    333,866 

 

 
 

 

ACTIONS SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
CONSOLIDATED CONDENSED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
(in thousands of U.S. dollars, except number of shares and per share amounts)

 

   Three months ended   Three months ended   Three months ended 
   March 31,   December 31,   March 31, 
   2015   2014   2014 
   (unaudited)   (unaudited)   (unaudited) 
             
Revenues:               
System-on-a-chip products   10,447    13,826    11,285 
Semiconductor product testing services   30    36    27 
    10,477    13,862    11,312 
Cost of revenues:               
System-on-a-chip products   (8,006)   (16,505)   (8,678)
Semiconductor product testing services   (11)   (18)   (18)
    (8,017)   (16,523)   (8,696)
Gross profit (loss)   2,460    (2,661)   2,616 
Other operating income   60    231    479 
Operating expenses:               
Research and development   (6,845)   (7,066)   (6,776)
General and administrative   (2,049)   (2,661)   (2,037)
Selling and marketing   (594)   (601)   (384)
Impairment on intangible assets   -    (535)   - 
Total operating expenses   (9,488)   (10,863)   (9,197)
Loss from operations   (6,968)   (13,293)   (6,102)
Other income (expense)   16    (1,085)   (2,504)
Interest income   1,646    1,699    3,080 
Interest expense   (163)   (147)   (137)
Loss before income taxes, equity in net (loss) income of
equity method investees and non-controlling interest
   (5,469)   (12,826)   (5,663)
Income tax credit   499    337    165 
Equity in net (loss) income of equity method investees   (27)   332    3 
Net loss   (4,997)   (12,157)   (5,495)
Less: Net loss attributable to non-controlling interest   -    1    - 
Net loss attributable to Actions Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Shareholders   (4,997)   (12,156)   (5,495)
                
Net loss attributable to Actions Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Shareholders               
Basic (per share)   (0.014)   (0.034)   (0.013)
Diluted (per share)   (0.014)   (0.034)   (0.013)
                
Basic (per ADS)   (0.085)   (0.206)   (0.080)
Diluted (per ADS)   (0.085)   (0.206)   (0.080)
                
Weighted-average shares used in computation:               
Basic   352,379,927    353,508,683    411,501,170 
Diluted   352,379,927    353,508,683    411,501,170 
                
Weighted-average ADS used in computation :               
Basic   58,729,988    58,918,114    68,583,528 
Diluted   58,729,988    58,918,114    68,583,528 
                
Note: Share-based compensation recorded in each               
expense classification above is as follows:               
Research and development   5    -    4 
General and administrative   -    -    2 
Selling and marketing        1    - 
Cost of revenues   -    28    - 

 

 
 

 

ACTIONS SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(in thousands of U.S. dollars)

 

   Three months ended   Three months ended   Three months ended 
   March 31,   December 31,   March 31, 
   2015   2014   2014 
   (unaudited)   (unaudited)   (unaudited) 
Operating activities:               
Net loss   (4,997)   (12,157)   (5,495)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by               
Operating activities:               
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment   475    487    503 
Allowance for doubtful accounts receivable   490    179    - 
Amortization of land use right   9    9    9 
Amortization of acquired intangible assets   1,228    1,138    1,138 
(Reversal of) write down of inventories   (776)   3,971    - 
Loss (gain) on disposal of property, plant and equipment   -    2    (3)
Loss on disposal of intangible assets   -    5    - 
Share of net loss (gain) of equity method investees   27    (332)   (3)
Share-based compensation   5    29    6 
Deferred taxes   (343)   (299)   (179)
Impairment loss recognised in respect of intangible assets   -    535    - 
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:               
Accounts receivable   (491)   1,487    (1,046)
Amount due from a related party   1,095    (618)   576 
Inventories   (232)   4,602    (5,468)
Amount due from an equity method investee   (7)   5    (4)
Prepaid expenses and other current assets   (1,178)   (1,120)   415 
Accounts payable   833    901    4,058 
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities   (1,214)   935    (1,232)
Amount due to a related party   (97)   -    - 
Income tax recoverable   (159)   (34)   19 
Income tax payable   -    1    - 
Rental deposit paid   (11)   -    (11)
Notes Receivable   161    (161)   - 
Net cash used in operating activities   (5,182)   (435)   (6,717)
                
Investing activities:               
Proceeds from redemption of marketable securities   -    6,019    41,432 
Purchase of marketable securities   (4,649)   (906)   (39,284)
Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment   -    -    18 
Purchase of property, plant and equipment   (76)   (66)   (483)
Purchase of intangible assets   (111)   (2,606)   (20)
Increase in restricted deposits   (195)   (13,089)   (11,021)
(Increase) decrease in time deposits   (5,627)   156    - 
Deposit paid for acquisition of intangible assets   -    (108)   (240)
Proceeds from disposal of intangible assets   -    -    24 
Net cash used in investing activities   (10,658)   (10,600)   (9,574)
                
Financing activities:               
Proceeds from exercise of share option   147    132    757 
Repurchase of ordinary shares   (632)   (441)   (1,061)
Raise of short-term bank loans   -    21,500    10,000 
Repayment of short-term bank loans   -    (10,000)   (5,000)
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities   (485)   11,191    4,696 
                
Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents   (16,325)   156    (11,595)
                
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period   78,177    78,520    53,263 
                
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash   3    (499)   (1,072)
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period   61,855    78,177    40,596