Soitec announces full year results for 2011-2012

• Consolidated Sales of 323.4 million Euros


• Gross profit at 50.4 million Euros


• Current operating loss of 45.8 million Euros


• Cash resources of 259.8 million Euros at year end


• Outlook: Slowdown anticipated in Electronic sales for first half 2012-2013 - Solar Energy industrial ramp up should start to deliver pipeline in the second half of the year

Bernin , France , 21^st May 2012 – Soitec (Euronext Paris), a world leader in generating and manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor materials for energy and electronics, today announced audited consolidated results for the financial year ended 31^st March 2012. Total sales for the year

of 323.4 million Euros were up by 15.1%. In line with guidance current operating loss was 45.8 million Euros. The Group booked net interest expense of 8.9 million Euros which results in a Group share of total net loss after tax of 56.3 million Euros. Operating cash flow for the year was slightly negative

at 9.8 million Euros. At the year end cash resources were 259.8 million Euros.

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Sales for the year increased from 281 million Euros last year to 323.4 million Euros, up 15.1%.

Gross profit decreased from 66.2 million Euros last year (23.6% of sales) to 50.4 million Euros (15.6% of sales) including the unfavourable impact from exchange rates. At constant exchange rates, gross profit as a percentage of sales would have decreased from 23.6% to 17.2% i.e. 57.8 million Euros.

Under unfavorable exchange rates, current operating results decreased as a result of the lower contribution from the Electronic segment, the industrial ramp up of the Solar Energy segment, the acceleration of Research and Development efforts and the reinforcement of organizational structures to better serve new Group developments.

Sales and gross profit must be analyzed by segment as disclosed below.

Other operating expenses reflect the acquisition of the remaining minority interest

in Soitec Solar Gmbh (1.4 million Euros) in January 2012.

Net financial expense decreased from 19.4 million Euros last year to 8.9 million Euros. Last year, the Group recorded an exchange loss of 1.5 million Euros compared to an exchange gain of 3.1 million Euros this year. Last year, the call option for the acquisition of the minority interest

of Soitec Solar Gmbh was valued at 4.8 million Euros.

Despite the net loss of 56.1 million Euros, the Group operating cash flow was slightly negative at 9.8 million Euros. In line with the guidance announced prior to the July 2011 share capital increase, the net cash flow dedicated to industrial investment amounted to 100.2 million Euros. Building on the success of its recent capital increase, the Group significantly strengthened its consolidated shareholders’ equity which amounted to 592.5 million Euros at March 31, 2012. Its available cash was 259.8 million Euros (net cash amounted to 96.4 million Euros). Recently, the Group has signed credit facilities with its banks for a total of 72 million Euros.

Financial highlights

Segment Analysis

Operating segments have been revised in a manner consistent with the new internal reporting provided to the Executive Team responsible for allocating resources and assessing performance. The Group now operates under three segments: Electronic, Solar Energy and Lighting. It has also elected to report corporate headquarters support functions within “Other segment”. 

Electronic Segment

During a period in which the industry was focused on reduction in inventories and with a poor economic overall environment, Electronic sales were up 15.1% compared to last year. Wafer sales increased by 11.7% up to 282.8 million Euros or 16.3% at constant exchange rates as the Euro/Dollar parity moved from 1.32 to 1.38 over the year. 300 mm wafer sales represented 82% of total wafer sales and increased by 17.9% in Euros or 22.7% at constant exchange rates. Other diameters decreased by 9.2% in Euros or 5.5% at constant exchange rates as most mature markets suffered from the unfavourable environment. Other electronic sales including Layer Transfer Solutions, Specialty Electronics and Licensing were up by 53% at 33.8 million Euros for the full year.

As a percentage of sales, gross profit decreased from 27.5% to 21.2% mainly as a result of the unfavorable exchange rates (circa 7 million Euros) and price erosion. The relatively low demand for small diameter wafers over the year and the focus put by the company in reduction on finished products inventories led to a reduction in total SOI wafers manufacturing margin from 31.0 % of sales in the first half of the year to 21.9 % of sales in the second half. A significant rebound of the demand for small diameter wafers is anticipated in the coming year as the early adoption of most advanced substrates like BSOS should continue to pick up.

The increase in R&D costs is mainly related to the FDSOI strategic program dedicated to provide a technology value proposal to the industry which is looking for planar low power/high performance solution for geometries beyond 28nm. The increase in SG&A costs reflects newly hired employees with skills dedicated to support the growth strategy for the small diameter wafers business.

Current operating income decreased from 44.3 million Euros last year to 23.2 million Euros.

Solar Energy Segment

Solar Energy sales are marginal as this segment is still in the development phase.

Significant investments have been made in the Solar Energy segment to support the industrial ramp up in Freiburg where the most advanced modules and systems (i.e. Gen V) are developed. R&D efforts dedicated to the future high efficiency solar cell have also been accelerated. The increase in the SG&A costs relates mainly to the reinforcement of the marketing efforts and skills to develop new opportunities in high irradiance areas.

Current operating loss increased from 24.9 million Euros to 44.9 million Euros.

Lighting Segment

The lighting segment has been created this year as it involves significant R&D costs to support the Group’s strategic positioning on Lighting markets. Current efforts are focused on developing advanced substrates to address the future high growth market of solid state lighting.

Current operating loss increased from 4.6 million Euros to 8.5 million Euros;

Other segment

The Other segment comprises the corporate headquarters support functions.

Outlook: Slowdown anticipated in Electronic sales for the first half of 2012-2013 - Solar Energy industrial ramp up should start to deliver pipeline in the second half of the year

Based on the most up-to-date information, the Group reiterates its recent guidance and outlook. Electronic sales for the first half of 2012-2013 financial year are expected to be around 140 million Euros assuming exchange rates at 1.30 Euros to the Dollar. A significant sequential decrease is anticipated for the first quarter which should be almost offset during the second quarter.

Recently, Soitec and the industry have announced several initiatives supported by the Electronic Segment. On 12 March 2012, Soitec announced that ST-Ericsson, a leader in wireless platforms and semiconductors, had selected planar fully depleted silicon on insulator (FD-SOI) technology for use in future mobile platforms such as the upcoming NovaThor high performance, low power application processors. Building on its successes with SOI technology, IBM made public that the company will move to finFETs based on silicon-on-insulator wafers at the 14nm node as well as continuous launch of new products on 45 nm SOI and 32 nm such as the eDRAM on SOI for high performance markets.

Solar Energy sales for the first quarter should remain non significant, however in the second half of the year sales should benefit from the contribution of the South African 50 MW contract which will be shipped from the German factory. In the second half, US operations should also benefit from the first deliveries related to the strong pipeline in California of up to 355 MW to support further growth. Over the year, the Solar Energy segment will continue to carry out significant investment to deliver revenue streams in financial year 2013-2014.

Agenda

Shareholder’s Meeting is scheduled on July 3^rd, 2012.

About Soitec:

Soitec
(Euronext Paris) is an international manufacturing company, a world leader in generating and manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor materials, at the frontier of the most exciting energy and electronic challenges. Soitec’s products encompass substrates for micro and nanoelectronics (most notably SOI : Silicon-On-Insulator) and concentrating photovoltaic systems (CPV). The company's core technologies are Smart Cut™, Smart Stacking™ and Concentrix™, as well as expertise in epitaxy. Soitec delivers enhanced performance and energy efficiency to a broad range of applications including consumer and mobile electronics, microelectronics-driven IT, telecommunications, automotive electronics, lighting products and solar power plants for large scale utilities. Soitec has manufacturing plants and R&D centers in France, Singapore, Germany, and the United States.

For more information, visit www.soitec.com.

For all information, please contact:

This release contains information and statements with respect to the Company’s beliefs and expectations of the outcome of future events which constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are trends or objectives, as the case may be, and shall not be construed as constituting forecasts regarding the Company's results or any other performance indicator. These statements are by nature subject to risks and uncertainties as described in the Company's registration document ("Document de Référence") filed with the AMF. These statements do not therefore reflect future performance of the Company, which may be materially different.

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