While sales in July of EUR 25.5m continued in line with the poor results for the first quarter, customer demand picked up rapidly from mid-August onwards. Sales for August climbed to EUR 27.7m. In September all the plants were once again operating at full capacity and sales jumped to EUR 34.8m. Indeed, demand was so strong that some orders had to be turned away because of lack of capacity. Quarterly sales were 6% higher than in the first quarter.

 

Revenues                           88.0                        83.2                     +4.8

Operating results                 4.8                         -50.1                    +54.9

Consolidated net income      2.3                         -52.2                    +54.5

Earnings / share (EUR)        0.10                         -2.23                   +2.33

 

While volume production in Shanghai gained momentum for seasonal reasons, the Leoben-Hinterberg plant also registered significant volumes of new orders. All volume production has been transferred to Asia during the past 12 months, and production capacity in Leoben is now entirely focused on European business. At 85,000 m² of printed circuit board area annually, capacity earmarked for Europe has more than doubled over the same period, although market analyses show that total production in the European printed circuit board industry will shrink by more than half in 2009. From the first to the second quarter, sales in AT&S’s industrial and automotive businesses, which are primarily serviced from Europe, increased by EUR 8.7m (41%) and EUR 1.4m (17%) respectively.

 

“These developments confirm the correctness of our strategy for Europe. There is a substantial market here, which needs to be serviced locally. Many of our customers also appreciate working with a business partner that can produce large batches in-house in Asia at attractive prices and to high quality standards. Especially in the current economic climate, we are trusted as a financially stable, long-term business partner,” commented Harald Sommerer, Chairman of the AT&S Management Board.

 

“From today’s perspective, it seems that the losses of the first quarter – exclusive the non-recurring items - can be made up in the course of the financial year 2009/10”, amends Steen E. Hansen, CFO of AT&S.

 

As at 30 September 2009, AT&S employed 5,644 people at its production sites in Austria, China, India and Korea, and a total of 16 sales offices around the world. 

 

For more information contact:
Hans Lang, AT&S press officer

Tel: +43 (0)676 8955 6259 (cell)