ams pre-announces fourth quarter 2014 revenues exceeding guidance at EUR 139.0 million ...

(PR title cont'd) ...  first quarter 2015 revenues expected to grow quarter-on-quarter and a fourth quarter 2014 operating margin impact from faster R&D expansion and one-time effects

Unterpremstaetten, Austria (19 January 2015) - ams (SIX: AMS), a leading worldwide manufacturer of high performance sensor and analog solutions, pre-announces fourth quarter 2014 revenues of EUR 139.0 million, above the upper end of revenue guidance of EUR 133-138 million, and first quarter 2015 revenues expected to grow quarter-on-quarter contrary to typical seasonality. At the same time, ams sees fourth quarter 2014 operating profitability impacted by a faster-than-expected addition of over 40 design engineers and an additional design center as well as two one-time effects. As a consequence, fourth quarter 2014 operating (EBIT) margin is expected to be around 23%, below previously communicated guidance.

Realizing the planned expansion of engineering resources to cover a full multi-year project pipeline earlier than expected, ams has successfully added more than 40 design engineers and a design center in Japan already in the fourth quarter 2014. The resulting increase in R&D expenses together with usual project-related quarterly R&D expense movements is expected to account for about half of the expected margin differential. The two one-time effects, which are each expected to account for about a quarter of the expected margin differential, are certain additional supplier costs in the fourth quarter 2014 to satisfy very strong customer demand for ams’ consumer solutions and an exceptional one-time customer-related write-off resulting from a product improvement for an Asian customer.

For the first quarter 2015, ams expects revenues to grow quarter-on-quarter in strong contrast to typical sector seasonality with first quarter revenues expected up to 5% higher compared to the fourth quarter 2014. This expectation is based on a confirmed total order backlog of EUR 131.3 million at 31 December 2014 (30 September 2014: EUR 119.8 million; 31 December 2013: EUR 76.6 million).

ams will publish its complete fourth quarter and full year 2014 results including first quarter 2015 guidance on 3 February 2015 at 7.15 am CET as previously communicated.