FRANKFURT, March 11 (Reuters) - German semiconductor equipment maker Aixtron (AIXG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it swung to a profit in 2004 and that its takeover of U.S. peer Genus had been approved by Genus shareholders, boosting its shares by 13 percent.
Aixtron said in a statement its 2004 operating profit was 8 million euros ($11 million), according to preliminary results, compared with an operating loss of 26.6 million euros in 2003.
Sales rose to 140 million euros, exceeding the 129 million euros forecast on average by 20 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates, and higher than the company's own guidance, which it cut in November to a range of 125-130 million.
The increase in sales was largely due to strong order intake in the first and second quarter, Aixtron said.
Net profit was 7 million euros including 2 million in mainly taxation benefits arising from the Genus takeover. It had a loss of 17.8 million in 2003.
The figure was higher than the company's guidance of 3-4 million euros, excluding effects from the all-share merger.
By 0854 GMT, Aixtron shares were 10.8 percent higher at 3.71 euros, the top gainer on Germany's TecDAX technology index . They earlier rose as high as 3.79 euros.
In a separate statement, Aixtron said it had completed its takeover of Genus, originally planned for the end of last year, after Genus shareholders approved it with a majority of around 61 percent at a meeting on Thursday.
Aixtron American Depositary Shares would begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday, the company said, and the Aixtron ordinary shares underlying the ADSs were expected to be admitted for trading in Frankfurt next week, following a capital hike.
"This transaction enables us to leverage the two companies' complementary strengths and gain the critical mass required to successfully compete in both the compound semiconductor and the semiconductor equipment industry," Aixtron Chief Executive Paul Hyland said in the statement.
Aixtron is the world's leading maker of gas-plating systems for silicon wafers used to produce chips for LED (light-emitting diode) displays for laptops and multimedia phones.
Genus makes systems for coating wafers for advanced semiconductor chips and hard disk drives |
