EMCORE Corporation Announces Preliminary Unaudited Results for Its Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2007
Monday December 17, 8:00 am ET
-- Fiscal 2007 4th quarter revenue increased 33% year-over-year and 6% sequentially to $47.0 million
-- Fiscal 2007 annual revenue exceeded guidance of $170 million
-- Fiscal 2008 annual revenue guidance to be raised over initial indication of $210 - $230 million
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EMCORE Corporation (Nasdaq: EMKR - News), a leading provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the broadband, fiber optic, satellite, and terrestrial solar power markets, today announced preliminary unaudited financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended September 30, 2007.
Consolidated revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 totaled $47.0 million. This represents a revenue increase of approximately 33% from $35.4 million reported last year from continuing operations and an increase of approximately 6% from $44.5 million from the prior quarter. Consolidated revenue for the year ended September 30, 2007 totaled $170.1 million, exceeding expectations. This represents a revenue increase of approximately 18% from $143.5 million reported last year from continuing operations.
Fiber Optics revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 totaled $31.3 million, which represents an increase of 11% from $28.0 million reported last year and an increase of 13% from $27.6 million reported from the prior quarter. For the year ended September 30, 2007, Fiber Optics revenue increased 5% to $110.4 million from $104.9 million, as reported in the prior year. Despite lower revenue from our legacy datacom products that serve the digital fiber optics sector, we achieved sequential revenue growth in our Fiber Optics sector. The annual increase in revenue was primarily due to a significant increase in sales of our CATV products, FTTP components and revenues associated with our acquisition of Opticomm Corporation. On a quarterly basis, fiscal 2007 Fiber Optics revenue was $25.3 million, $26.2 million, $27.6 million and $31.3 million.
Photovoltaics revenue increased 116% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 to $15.8 million when compared to $7.3 million reported last year, and decreased 7% from $16.9 million reported from the prior quarter. For the year ended September 30, 2007, Photovoltaics revenue increased 54% to $59.7 million from $38.7 million, as reported in the prior year. The decrease in sequential quarterly revenue in our Photovoltaics segment was due to the timing of certain order shipments. On an annual basis, revenue for our Photovoltaics segment exceeded expectations. The annual increase in revenue was primarily due to increased demand of solar cells and panels for commercial satellites, government engineering programs, and emerging business of concentrator solar cells for terrestrial power applications. On a quarterly basis, fiscal 2007 Photovoltaics revenue was $13.4 million, $13.6 million, $16.9 million and $15.8 million.
Consolidated gross profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 totaled $8.3 million. Gross profit increased from $4.2 million reported last year from continuing operations and decreased from $9.8 million from the prior quarter. Consolidated gross profit for the year ended September 30, 2007 totaled $30.7 million. This represents an increase of 18% from $26.0 million reported last year from continuing operations.
Consolidated gross margin for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 was approximately 18%. This represents an increase from the 12% reported in the prior year and a decrease from the 22% reported in the prior quarter. Consolidated gross margins were 18% for both years ended September 30, 2007 and 2006. On a segment basis, Fiber Optics gross margins were 17% and 18% for the fourth quarter and year ended September 30, 2007, respectively. Fiber Optics gross margin on a quarterly basis improved from 13% gross margin as reported in the prior year and decreased from 22% gross margin as reported in the prior quarter. The sequential decrease in Fiber Optics gross margin was primarily due to unabsorbed overhead due to low datacom product revenue and changes in product mix involving increased sales of lower margin FTTP components. Photovoltaics gross margins were 19% and 18% for the fourth quarter and year ended September 30, 2007, respectively. Photovoltaics gross margin on a quarterly basis improved from 6% gross margin as reported in the prior year and decreased from 22% gross margin as reported in the prior quarter. The decrease in Photovoltaics gross margin when compared to the prior quarter was a result of lower overall revenue and changes in product mix involving increased sales of lower margin satellite solar cells.
Operating expenses for the fourth quarter and year ended September 30, 2007 totaled $23.7 million and $86.8 million, respectively. A significant portion of the quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year increase in operating expenses was due to expenses associated with our investment in the Company's new terrestrial Solar Power Systems division, professional fees incurred associated with our review of historical stock option granting practices, stock-based compensation, and restructure-, severance- and litigation-related expenses (later referred to as "Adjusted Expenses" and as disclosed in detail in the attached non-GAAP tables). Excluding Adjusted Expenses, operating expenses for the fourth quarter and year ended September 30, 2007 totaled $14.3 million and $52.4 million, respectively. This represents a decrease of $2.9 million of operating expense when compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 and a decrease of $0.6 million of operating expense on an annual basis. Fiscal 2007 fourth quarter results also included approximately $0.6 million associated with our new manufacturing facility in Langfang, China and approximately $0.4 million of operating expense associated with our recent acquisition of Opticomm Corporation.
Operating loss for the fourth quarter and year ended September 30, 2007 totaled $15.3 million and $56.0 million, respectively. Excluding Adjusted Expenses, our adjusted operating loss for the fourth quarter and year ended September 30, 2007 totaled $5.5 million and $20.3 million, respectively. This represents a decrease in operating loss of $7.2 million when compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 and a decrease in operating loss of $5.6 million on an annual basis.
Our net loss for the fourth quarter and year ended September 30, 2007 totaled $16.2 million, or $0.32 loss per share and $57.3 million or $1.12 loss per share, respectively. Excluding Adjusted Expenses, our adjusted net loss for the fourth quarter and year ended September 30, 2007 totaled $6.4 million or $0.13 loss per share and $21.5 million or $0.42 loss per share, respectively.
Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at September 30, 2007 totaled $41.2 million, a decrease of $7.1 million from the prior quarter. The decrease was primarily due to payment of professional fees incurred associated with our review of historical stock option granting practices, legal costs associated with our patent infringement lawsuits against Optium Corporation and various increases in net working capital requirements.
As of September 30, 2007, EMCORE had an order backlog of approximately $149 million as compared to a backlog of approximately $48 million from the prior year. The September 30, 2007 order backlog is comprised of $127 million for our Solar Power segment and $22 million for our Fiber Optics segment. Within our Solar Power segment, $57 million relates to our satellite solar power business and $70 million relates to our terrestrial solar power business. The significant increase in order backlog is attributable to the receipt of long-term photovoltaics-related sales contracts, of which approximately $45 million is scheduled for shipment after calendar year 2008.
Management Discussion and Outlook:
"Fiscal 2007 was a year of transition at EMCORE. We consolidated operations, transferred product manufacturing to our new facility in China, extended our industry leading satellite photovoltaics product line to serve the terrestrial solar power market and experienced continued growth in our broadband CATV product line. Our primary objective for the coming year is to achieve positive earnings per share in 2008. We are well positioned in each of our core product markets and foresee continued improvement in our competitive position across all segments" stated Reuben F. Richards, Jr., Chief Executive Officer.
Company & Quarterly Highlights:
August 6, 2007 - EMCORE announced that it attained a record 39% conversion efficiency under 1000x concentrated illumination on its multi-junction solar cell products currently in high volume production. These solar cells are for terrestrial concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems applications. EMCORE's concentrated triple-junction (CTJ) solar cells were designed and optimized for the most desirable system operating conditions, i.e. 500-1000x concentration, for cost effective commercial CPV systems. The record conversion efficiency of 39% was measured on 1-cm2 production concentrator solar cells and at 1000x illumination. EMCORE is currently manufacturing ultra-high efficiency CTJ cells with a variety of form factors for multiple customers and has shipped several million concentrator solar cells to CPV system manufacturers worldwide. As a part of the planned high-volume product roadmap, EMCORE's continuing investment in technological innovation will enable the introduction of concentrator solar cell products with conversion efficiencies of greater than 40% under the high illumination operating conditions required for next generation, cost competitive CPV systems.
August 29, 2007 - EMCORE announced that it was awarded a follow-on production order from Green and Gold Energy (GGE), Adelaide, South Australia, for 3 million solar cells for use in GGE's SunCubeTM terrestrial concentrator system. This 105 MW purchase order was a follow-on order to an initial 5 MW order placed earlier in the year. All hardware ordered under this contract is to be shipped by December 2008.
August 31, 2007 - EMCORE announced the consolidation of its North American fiber optics engineering and design centers into its main operating sites. EMCORE's engineering facilities in Virginia, Illinois, and Northern California were consolidated into larger primary sites in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Alhambra, California. The consolidation of these engineering sites should allow EMCORE to leverage resources within engineering, new product introduction, and customer service. By consolidating facilities, EMCORE expects to realize annual cost savings of approximately $7.0 million.
November 1, 2007 - EMCORE announced that following the completion of the voluntary review of the Company's historical stock option granting practices, the Company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2006 and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended December 31, 2006, March 31, 2007, and June 30, 2007. These filings supersede in their entirety the preliminary quarterly earnings releases issued on January 8, 2007, April 25, 2007, July 10, 2007, and October 10, 2007.
December 12, 2007 - EMCORE announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding for the supply of 60MW of solar power systems that are scheduled for deployment in Ontario, Canada over the next three years. EMCORE will supply and install turnkey solar power systems in the Sault Ste Marie area utilizing EMCORE's concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems developed at its Albuquerque, NM facility. EMCORE also has the right to substitute other solar technologies in portions of the projects. The project developer, Pod Generating Group (PGG), has secured the licenses and permits for the project through the Ontario Power Authority Standard Offer Program and system deployment is expected to begin in mid-2008. PGG is a developer of photovoltaics-based power generation facilities in Northern Ontario, Canada.
December 14, 2007 - EMCORE filed a Form 12b-25, Notification of Late Filing, with the SEC because the filing delays discussed above have not allowed sufficient time for the completion of our fiscal 2007 audit by December 14, 2007. The Company anticipates that it will be able to file its fiscal 2007 Form 10-K within the fifteen-day period, or December 31, 2007, the extended deadline provided under Rule 12b-25(b)(2)(ii).
EMCORE will discuss these preliminary unaudited financial results on a conference call to be held on Tuesday, December 18, 2007, at 9:00 a.m. ET. To participate in the conference call, U.S. callers should dial (toll free) 866- 710-0179 and international callers should dial 334-323-9871. The access code for the call is 958735. A replay of the call will be available beginning December 18, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. ET until Tuesday, December 25, 2007 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The replay call-in number for U.S. callers is 877-656-8905, for international callers it is 334-323-9859, and the access code is 86551201. The call also will be web cast via the Company's web site at emcore.com. Please go to the site beforehand to download any necessary software. |
