ASML outgrows lithography equipment market

ASML Holding has announced 2006 annual and fourth quarter results, with a 42% increase in sales over the previous year.

ASML Holding has announced 2006 annual and fourth quarter results according to US GAAP.

2006 net sales were Eur 3597 million, up 42% versus 2005 net sales of Eur 2529 million.

Q4 2006 net sales were Eur 1068 million, up 11% versus Q3 2006 net sales of Eur 958 million.

2006 net income was Eur 625 million or 17.4% of sales, up 101% versus 2005 net income of Eur 311 million or 12.3% of sales.

Q4 2006 net income was Eur 206 million or 19.3% of sales, up 20% versus Q3 2006 net income of Eur 172 million or 17.9% of sales.

Q4 2006 net bookings were valued at Eur 1089 million with 84 systems including 74 new systems and 10 refurbished systems, leading to an order backlog at record value of Eur 2146 million with 163 lithography systems as of 31st December 2006 "2006 was another year of great execution for ASML, as we hit record sales and delivered consistently improving operating performance, while gaining market share", said Eric Meurice, President and CEO, ASML.

"Indeed, ASML was able to increase sales by 42% year on year, within an overall semiconductor lithography equipment market which grew by an estimated 34%".

"In parallel, we improved profitability and generated significant cash, which we used partly to buy back 8.3% of our outstanding shares".

"In addition, we have strengthened our potential for future value generation, by increasing significantly our R and D expenditures and by initiating the acquisition of Brion Technologies".

"In view of current market forecasts by semiconductor industry analysts, our strong position in immersion and our potential for further market share gains across all segments, we expect 2007 to be another year of increased sales, confirming the company's growth trajectory towards our goal of 5 billion euros in sales by 2010", said Meurice.

"Our optimism is supported by our strong backlog and the expected industry ramp-up of immersion volume manufacturing in 2007; we expect front-loading of Flash memory capacity build-up in the first half of 2007 and a strong uptake of the Twinscan XT:1900i in the second half of 2007".

"This new immersion system will serve as a development and production vehicle for the sub45nm node".

Although exact Q1 2007 unit bookings are difficult to predict, due to customer lead-time variability, the company expects a healthy Q1 order level to sustain our growth outlook for 2007.

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