Micronas Semiconductor Holding AG

Sales and profit expectations for 2014 fulfilled - Seite 2

"Micronas met its sales and profit forecasts for financial 2014," says Matthias Bopp, CEO of Micronas. "In addition to negative currency impacts, earnings were influenced above all by temporary start-up costs for new products, all of which were manufactured on the 8-inch line at the Freiburg production facility. For Micronas the switch from 6- to 8-inch production and the launch of new and innovative products are valuable steps towards long-term productivity gains and sustained margin improvements," Matthias Bopp explains.

The Automotive segment generated sales of CHF 147.8 million in the 2014 financial year, which is 2.9 percent up on 2013. After adjusting for changes in the euro-yen exchange rate, growth was 5.9 percent. Sales of our Hall sensor products were 5.7 percent higher than in the prior year, or 8.9 percent after adjusting for currency movements. Controller sales were lower overall owing to the discontinuation of the old dashboard controllers, but sales of our new embedded motor controllers were more than twice as high as in 2013. Operating profit (EBIT) for the Automotive segment, which was also influenced by start-up costs for new products, reached CHF 6.7 million in the year under review, or 4.5 percent of segment sales.

Micronas has the world's biggest portfolio of Hall sensor products for the automotive market. The range was further strengthened during the year under review with the addition of new products that will all be manufactured on our 8-inch line.

In 2014 sales by the Industrial segment increased by a pleasing 28.1 percent compared with the prior year, reaching CHF 10.7 million. The segment thus accounted for 6.7 percent of consolidated sales last year. Operating result (EBIT) came to CHF -0.3 million, which includes a one-time impairment of CHF 0.6 million on intangible assets.

With the aim of continuing the Industrial segment's development and thus building up a second main business, the internal focus, including in the gas sensor area, was optimized. Owing to the delay in the introduction of a new type of fire alarm, the segment is now concentrating more on supporting our key customers' other ongoing development projects.

Capacity utilization at the Freiburg manufacturing plant, which includes both front-end and back-end activities, stood at around 85 percent when calculated over the year as a whole. In terms of front-end operations, 2014 was marked by the move in volume production from the 6-inch to the 8-inch wafer line. This transition will continue over the next few years. The efficiency gains produced by the 8-inch line result from the much higher number of chips that can be produced per wafer; the increase in process costs, meanwhile, is relatively small.