ICOS reports results for Q1

ICOS Vision Systems Corporation NV (Nasdaq and Euronext: IVIS) today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2004. 
 
Revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2004 were EUR 21.0 million, representing an increase of approximately 40% compared to the fourth quarter 2003 revenues of EUR 15.0 million and a more than two-fold increase over the prior year first quarter revenues of EUR 9.3 million. The company reported operating income for the first quarter of 2004 of EUR 6.3 million, more than double operating income of EUR 3.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2003 and a significant increase from operating income of EUR 0.5 million for the first quarter of 2003. Net income for the first quarter of 2004 was EUR 4.6 million or 44 Eurocents per share compared to net income of EUR 3.3 million for the fourth quarter or 31 Eurocents per share and compared to net income of EUR 0.2 million or 2 Eurocents per share for the first quarter of 2003. Cash and cash equivalents stood at EUR 30.4 million at the end of the quarter with ICOS generating EUR 1.0 million cash from operations, including changes in working capital, during the quarter.

"The first quarter of 2004 marked the second consecutive quarter of 40% sequential growth and the tenth consecutive quarter of sequentially increasing revenue," said Anton DeProft, ICOS' president and chief executive officer. "Our top line was driven by a continuing market upturn and strong ramp up of new products introduced over the past 18 months, in particular the FTI systems, and new customers we have won leading into the current up-cycle. Our operational model is allowing us to react swiftly to the sharp increase in demand from semiconductor back-end OEMs and end-users, while maintaining our trademark delivery times. The combination of revenue gains and our low fixed cost operating model helped our operating margin, a key performance measure, to jump from 20.5 to 30%."

"Looking ahead, we expect second quarter 2004 revenues to continue a sharp sequential rise of between, 25 and 30% from the first quarter. Based upon this level of revenue growth, we would expect our operating margin to expand into a range of 30% to 35%. As we move into the second half of the year, while visibility remains low, our preliminary expectation is for a more sideways market evolution".

ICOS is a leading worldwide developer and supplier of inspection equipment, primarily for the semiconductor packaging industry. The company believes to have the most comprehensive line of 2D and 3D inspection solutions for its target markets. ICOS has three product lines: its stand-alone inspection equipment performs the final outgoing inspection and taping of various types of semiconductor components and its board-level and system-level OEM inspection systems are integrated at various stages of the semiconductor packaging process and in the electronic assembly equipment.