ALLIANCE SEMICONDUCTOR REPORTS FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE FISCAL FOURTH QUARTER AND FISCAL YEAR ENDED APRIL 1, 2000
Q4 REVENUES UP 108% AND NET INCOME OF $ 581 MILLION $13.48 EPS Q4 FY 2000 / $ 15.07 EPS FY 2000 SANTA CLARA,
California - April 27, 2000 - Alliance Semiconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: ALSC) today reported revenues for the fiscal fourth quarter ended April 1, 2000 of $28.8 million, an increase of 108% from the same quarter last year, and up 23% from the prior quarter's revenue of $23.5 million. SRAM and DRAM sales for the quarter accounted for approximately 42% and 58% of revenues, respectively.
Revenues for fiscal year 2000 were $89.2 million, an increase of 86% above fiscal year 1999 revenues of $47.8 million.
Net income for the fiscal fourth quarter was $581 million, resulting in net earnings of $13.48 per share (diluted), compared to a net income of $0.6 million, or $0.01 per share (diluted), on revenues of $13.9 million during the same quarter last year.
The operating profit for the fourth fiscal quarter ended April 1, 2000 was $3.4 million, or $0.05 per share (diluted), compared to an operating loss of ($0.5) million, or ($0.01) per share, for the same period last year, and an operating profit of $1.6 million or $0.04 per share (diluted), in the third fiscal quarter, after adjusting for a $3.6 million non-recurring charge.
Net income for the fiscal fourth quarter ended April 1, 2000 includes a pretax gain of $908 million ($532 million after tax), or $12.33 per share (diluted), as the result of the merger of Alliance's joint venture investments in United Semiconductor Corporation and United Silicon Inc. with United Microelectronics Corporation ("UMC"), a public company in Taiwan, which was completed on January 3, 2000.
The Company also recognized a pretax gain in the fourth quarter of approximately $69 million ($41 million after tax), or $0.95 per share (diluted), as the result of the merger of Orologic Corporation, in which Alliance had an investment, and Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation ("Vitesse" -- Nasdaq: VTSS), based on the closing share price of Vitesse on March 31, 2000, the effective date of the merger.
Also included in net income in the fourth fiscal period ended April 1, 2000 is a pretax gain of approximately $11.6 million, or $0.15 per share (diluted), resulting from the sale of a portion of Broadcom stock held by the Company. Alliance Chairman, President and CEO, N.D. Reddy said "We are very pleased with the continued revenue growth and operating performance of the Company. The core business has returned to profitability. The quarter-over-quarter sales growth for the past six quarters has averaged approximately 19% per quarter. With the apparent strong current sales bookings, we are hopeful that revenues could increase by over 20% during the first quarter of fiscal year 2001, with the accompanying increased earnings. Demand was particularly strong in the communications market segment, resulting in record bookings of $74 million as of April 26th, $32 million of which is scheduled for shipment this quarter. Higher average selling prices and improved manufacturing yields contributed to our increased gross margin of 36.7% during the fourth quarter."
N.D. Reddy also said "During the fiscal fourth quarter the Company successfully ramped into production an advanced 0.25um high speed and low power SRAM technology and introduced 4Mb density high speed asynchronous SRAM, a 4Mb density synchronous SRAM, and a 4Mb low power Intelliwatt? SRAM for wireless applications. The Company also successfully transferred a 0.25um 16Mb DRAM and a 0.21um based 64Mb SDRAM into production during the same period. During the fiscal first quarter of FY 2001 the Company expects not only to ramp these new products into production, but also to develop high performance low power and cost effective 0.18um SRAM products. With the introduction of these new products, coupled with the current backlog and booking activity, the Company hopes for strong revenue and operating income growth during the fiscal first quarter 2001 and beyond."
Share Repurchases
In February 2000, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved increasing the authorized share repurchase amount from 2 million to up to 4 million shares of common stock. During the fiscal fourth quarter Alliance purchased 720,000 shares of its common stock in the open market as part of this program.
Alliance Ventures LP Investments
The Company, through its venture arm, Alliance Venture Management, LLC, invested approximately $8.6 million during fiscal fourth quarter in two Alliance venture funds (Alliance Ventures II, LP and Alliance Ventures III, LP). At the end of March, Alliance's venture funds had invested approximately $28 million in 19 networking, communication and internet start-up companies.
The Company is currently evaluating a number of existing and start-up investment opportunities relating to Alliance's business which could result in additional investments of $15 million to $25 million during the fiscal first quarter of FY 2001.
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