Sales and earnings up in first half despite faltering market (0316)

Key data for second quarter and first half of 2003

Despite an extremely difficult market environment, the Micronas Group succeeded in further increasing sales in the first half of 2003 compared with the same period of last year. The growth generated in the first three months more than made up for the sales decline in the second quarter. The trend in earnings followed a similar pattern. On balance, the first half year showed a substantial rise in net profit compared with the same period a year ago. For 2003 as a whole, we expect sales growth in the low single-digit percentage range.

In the second quarter of 2003, consolidated net sales amounted to CHF 158.6 million. This represents a decrease of 17.0 percent compared with the first three months of the current year. The cumulated half-year sales were CHF 349.7 million, which represents growth of 4.9 percent - 2.9 percent after adjustment for currency translation - compared with the same period of 2002.

During the whole reporting period, the Consumer division faced faltering sales markets for television sets. There was pleasing growth in the still relatively small market for flatscreen (LCD/PDP) TVs. In the second quarter, we acquired Microtune s design centre for integrated circuits in digital TV sets in Nijmegen (The Netherlands). This was a further step in the development of this promising market segment.

Although the international automotive markets were adversely affected by the persistent weakness of global economic activity, the Automotive division reported stable demand for Micronas products.

The operating profit before depreciation and amortization of goodwill (EBITDA) fell compared with the very good first quarter result by 19.6 percent to CHF 50.9 million. However, the semi-annual value was CHF 114.2 million, up 16.3 percent compared with the previous year s figure.

The operating profit (EBIT) was CHF 21.3 million, 40.2 percent lower than in the previous quarter. By contrast, the operating profit for the semester overall showed a gain of 27.5 percent, rising from CHF 44.7 million to CHF 57.0 million. This figure includes an accounting profit on foreign exchange positions of CHF 7.9 million.

The net profit for the second quarter of 2003 decreased compared with the first three months of the year by 27.2 percent to CHF 17.1 million. For the first six months of 2003, the net profit grew in comparison with the corresponding figure a year ago by 75.0 percent to CHF 40.6 million. Earnings per share in the reporting period were CHF 1.50 or CHF 1.81 adjusted for amortization of goodwill after tax.

The Micronas Group is a leading independent supplier of innovative applicationspecific semiconductor solutions for multimedia, consumer and automotive electronics. Its shares are listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange and on the Prime Standard segment (TecDax) in Frankfurt.