News Article
A good year for some
Continued strong growth drives IQE revenues up 21% and underlying operating profitability up sevenfold.
IQE announced its Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2008.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
· Revenues up 21% to £60.5m (2007: £50.1m) despite difficult economic conditions · Continued margin improvement with gross profit* up 43% to £11.8m (2007: £8.2m) · EBITDA* more than doubled to £8.4m (2007: £3.9m) · Underlying operating profit* up almost sevenfold to £4.0m (2007: £0.6m) reflecting strong operational gearing · Strong conversion of EBITDA into cash generated from operations*, up more than fourfold to £8.5m (2007: £2.0m).
· Positive free cashflow** of £0.7m (2007: outflow £7.1m) · Net asset value increased from £23.0m to £30.2m during 2008 · Exceptional charges of £3.9m (2007: £0.4m) incurred for planned relocation of manufacturing facility in Singapore (£2.5m) and Group streamlining to reduce costs and improve efficiencies. This includes non-cash items of £2.8m.
· Retained profit* of £2.5m (2007: loss £0.4m). After the impact of the exceptional items, total retained loss of £1.4m (2007: loss £0.9m).
· EPS* at 0.59 pence per share (2007: 0.10 pence loss per share). After the impact of the exceptional items a loss per share of 0.32 pence per share (2007 : 0.20 pence loss per share).
TRADING OUTLOOK
· Signs that inventory reductions are coming to an end after slow Q1. Customer feedback coupled with recent industry news-flow indicate that demand should start to pick up in Q2 2009, accelerating through the second half of 2009.
· Investment in infrastructure and new product innovation has strongly positioned IQE to benefit from the upturn in the semiconductor markets.
· Robust long term market growth for Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) based products forecast, driven by high speed wireless communications (including smartphone devices for 3G and beyond), solar cells for renewable, clean energy generation, highly efficient LEDs for solid state lighting, and compound semiconductor integration with silicon for future generations of integrated circuits.
Dr Drew Nelson, IQE Chief Executive, commenting on the results said, “Despite the global economic downturn that caused a strong reduction in demand in the fourth quarter of 2008, IQE achieved record revenues and underlying operating profit, producing its fourth consecutive year of substantial double digit growth.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
· Revenues up 21% to £60.5m (2007: £50.1m) despite difficult economic conditions · Continued margin improvement with gross profit* up 43% to £11.8m (2007: £8.2m) · EBITDA* more than doubled to £8.4m (2007: £3.9m) · Underlying operating profit* up almost sevenfold to £4.0m (2007: £0.6m) reflecting strong operational gearing · Strong conversion of EBITDA into cash generated from operations*, up more than fourfold to £8.5m (2007: £2.0m).
· Positive free cashflow** of £0.7m (2007: outflow £7.1m) · Net asset value increased from £23.0m to £30.2m during 2008 · Exceptional charges of £3.9m (2007: £0.4m) incurred for planned relocation of manufacturing facility in Singapore (£2.5m) and Group streamlining to reduce costs and improve efficiencies. This includes non-cash items of £2.8m.
· Retained profit* of £2.5m (2007: loss £0.4m). After the impact of the exceptional items, total retained loss of £1.4m (2007: loss £0.9m).
· EPS* at 0.59 pence per share (2007: 0.10 pence loss per share). After the impact of the exceptional items a loss per share of 0.32 pence per share (2007 : 0.20 pence loss per share).
TRADING OUTLOOK
· Signs that inventory reductions are coming to an end after slow Q1. Customer feedback coupled with recent industry news-flow indicate that demand should start to pick up in Q2 2009, accelerating through the second half of 2009.
· Investment in infrastructure and new product innovation has strongly positioned IQE to benefit from the upturn in the semiconductor markets.
· Robust long term market growth for Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) based products forecast, driven by high speed wireless communications (including smartphone devices for 3G and beyond), solar cells for renewable, clean energy generation, highly efficient LEDs for solid state lighting, and compound semiconductor integration with silicon for future generations of integrated circuits.
Dr Drew Nelson, IQE Chief Executive, commenting on the results said, “Despite the global economic downturn that caused a strong reduction in demand in the fourth quarter of 2008, IQE achieved record revenues and underlying operating profit, producing its fourth consecutive year of substantial double digit growth.
