SST Returns to Profitability in the 3rd Quarter
Product Revenues up 59% Over 2Q99, 88% Over 3Q98
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 12, 1999 -- SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.) (Nasdaq: SSTI) today announced results for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 1999.
Net revenues for the third quarter were $35.1 million, compared with $23.0 million in the second quarter, and with $18.1 million in the third quarter a year ago. Unit shipments this quarter were the highest in the company's history, growing 41% from the record shipments of the second quarter of 1999 and 85% from the third quarter a year ago.
The company had a net profit for the third quarter of $448 thousand, or a profit of $0.02 per share on a diluted basis, based on approximately 27.2 million fully diluted shares outstanding. By comparison, in the second quarter, there was a net loss of $3.6 million, or a loss of $0.15 per share on a diluted basis, based on approximately 23.7 million weighted average shares outstanding. In the third quarter of 1998, the company reported a net loss of $7.3 million, or a loss of $0.32 per share on a diluted basis, based on approximately 23.0 million weighted average shares outstanding.
There was an operating profit of $773 thousand in the third quarter of this year, compared with an operating loss of $3.8 million in the second quarter, and an operating loss of $5.4 million in the same period of the prior year.
"Despite the impact from the Taiwan earthquake that interrupted our production and product shipment during September, we have achieved record revenue and unit shipments significantly higher than any prior quarter in the company's history," said Bing Yeh, president and chief executive officer. " I am very pleased to report that the company has returned to profitability."
"In addition, I am pleased to report that we are experiencing a powerful rebound of the flash memory market. The demand for our products, old and new, is extremely strong. Despite the planned capacity expansion throughout next year, we expect to put our customers on allocation for a majority of our products for at least the next two quarters.
"During the third quarter, we continued to execute on our strategy to grow and diversify our product and application base as well as expand our licensing program. On the product side, we expanded our high performance CompactFlash Card family with 32MByte and 48MByte CompactFlash cards to address such applications as high-resolution digital cameras, MP3 audio players, personal digital assistants, and industrial and medical systems. We announced additional Many-Time Programmable (MTP) flash memory devices that are ideally suited for cost-sensitive applications such as DECT phones, Video CD players, printers, copiers, fax machines, digital toys, modems and other consumer and PC peripheral products. In August, we entered into the application-specific memory arena with the industry's first ComboMemory products with monolithic integration of flash memory and SRAM. In September, we further introduced FlashBank product, a new family of low-voltage, application specific memory devices that integrate Flash and E2PROM memory functions onto a single chip. This new family of products was co-developed with Sanyo to focus on the wireless communications and Internet appliance markets.
"On the technology licensing front, we continue to score great success in positioning SuperFlash as the technology-of-choice for embedded applications. In early July, we expanded our licensing agreement with Sanyo Semiconductor to include 0.25 micron technology and joint product development. In late July, we announced our collaboration agreement with Qualcomm on Flash technology for the rapidly growing CDMA wireless applications. In September, we announced the licensing of SuperFlash technology to ATMI for emerging smart card applications.
"With thirty new products introduced since mid-1998, the foundry capacity we put in place during past two years and the strategic technology licensing to world-class IC manufacturers for embedded applications, we believe that SST is well positioned to take full advantage of the industry upturn. We will build on these programs and continue to expand our revenue and profit in the fourth quarter and into the year 2000," he said.
SST's quarterly conference call will be held today, Oct. 12th at 1:30 PM PST. To participate in the call please dial (773) 756-4701. A 48-hour replay will be available by calling (402) 220-2097 and using the code 9757841.
About Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, SST designs, manufactures and markets a diversified range of nonvolatile memory solutions, based on proprietary, patented SuperFlash technology, for the computer, communications and consumer markets.
SST's product families include low-cost, high-functionality flash memory components, CompactFlash card mass storage products and 8-bit microcontrollers with on-chip flash memory. SST also offers its SuperFlash technology for embedded applications through its world-class manufacturing partners and technology licensees IBM, Motorola, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp., TSMC-Acer Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TASMC) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC). Further information on SST can be found on the company's website at ssti.com.
The SST logo and SuperFlash are registered trademarks of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. MTP, ComboMemory and FlashBank are trademarks of SST.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks may include timely development, acceptance and pricing of new products, the terms and conditions associated with licensees' royalty payments, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and general economic conditions as they affect the company's customers, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1998 and reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 1999 and June 30, 1999.
|
