AIXTRON announced its consolidated financial results for the first half of 2009. Stimulated by the adoption of LED backlight in LCD TV, AIXTRON recorded 23% increase in sequential quarterly revenues from EUR 46.2 million in Q1 to EUR 56.7 million in Q2.
Amid the global economic woes, most manufacturers have lowered their inventory levels. Equipment order intake has showed signs of recovery in 2Q09 after five consecutive quarters of decline. In particular, spurred by rising demand for LED TV backlighting, order intake picked up by a staggering 85% QoQ.
AIXTRON recorded total revenues of EUR 102.9m during the first half of 2009, 20% lower than the same period last year. Nonetheless, AIXTRON has increased its revenue guidance for the third time this year, from EUR 170M in March 2009 to EUR 230～250M, and officially announced that Q2 marked the its return of market demand.
Management Review
Paul Hyland, President & Chief Executive Officer at AIXTRON, comments: “I am happy to be able to announce, that as we predicted in May, Q1 did mark the bottom of the five quarter run of declining order intake following the industry’s 2008 inventory de-stocking activities and consequent low utilization rates.
Q2 not only marked the return of market demand driven orders but was also notable for investments being made by significant strategic investors, reflecting the rising attraction of the LED market potential. Our decision to increase our guidance to EUR 230-250m of total revenues and an EBIT margin of 12-13% for the full year reflects not only the quicker than generally expected LED-market recovery we have seen over the last three months, but also the positive customer sentiment towards the second half outlook.
We will, of course, keep our feet on the ground at this exciting time, but we continue to see ample opportunities to leverage the strong technology position and flexible operations model we have developed to support the growth our customers are looking for”.
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