Infineon’s Q1 results hit by market slowdown
Although net income leapt from euro 44 million in the previous quarter, revenues were down 9% sequentially, thanks to lower sales volumes in all the company’s market segments.
The net income for the first quarter is also not so impressive when it is considered that it includes a one-off payment of euro 118 million as a result of a settlement with ProMos.
The 2004 fourth quarter net income was also distorted by the inclusion of a euro 132 million anti-trust related fine. When both of these factors are taken into account, the company’s net income actually fell significantly in the first quarter - a point noted by Infineon chief executive officer and president Dr Wolfgang Ziebart.
"As anticipated in our outlook from the last quarter, we have seen a slowdown in most of our application segments, a further clear market weakening and lower customer demand during the first quarter. We have thus taken necessary measures to adjust inventory levels, which negatively impacted our first quarter results." Ziebart said that the company was expecting a further decline in demand in the next quarter.
Infineon is Europe’s largest chip maker. Its main markets are automotive and industrial, wireline communications and mobile solutions and memory products.
