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EXHIBIT 99.24
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Diodes, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2001 Results
Westlake Village, California, May 1, 2001 - Diodes Incorporated (Nasdaq: DIOD),
a leading manufacturer and supplier of high quality discrete semiconductors,
primarily to the telecommunications, computing, electronics and automotive
industries, today reported financial results for the first quarter of fiscal
year 2001 ended March 31, 2001.
Revenues for the first quarter were $25.7 million, a decrease of 6.2% as
compared to $27.4 million for the comparable quarter in 2000. Net income for the
same period was $521,000, as compared to $3.1 million for the three months ended
March 31, 2000. Diluted earnings per share were $0.06 for the first quarter of
2001, as compared to $0.34 for the same period last year.
"During the first quarter of 2001, Diodes faced challenges caused by a severe
inventory correction and soft underlying demand, primarily in the communications
and computer sectors, which have beset so many of our customers and our
competitors in the semiconductor industry," said C.H. Chen, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Diodes, Inc. "While integral to our growth strategy, the
acquisition of the FabTech wafer foundry has compounded the near-term volatility
of our financial performance by increasing our fixed costs during a period of
decreasing demand and corresponding lower capacity utilization. We are
cautiously optimistic that we will see gradual improvement as 2001 progresses,
however pricing pressures are likely to pose a challenge in the second quarter.
Chen continued, "We are pleased with the recent progress we've made in
integrating FabTech with our product development strategy and validating the
technology and design innovation that is key to Diodes' future. In the past
quarter, we have introduced several new products, the majority of which are
focused on handheld, battery-powered devices, and initial customer reception has
been very strong. In addition, we have used the pause in our industry's growth
to enhance our internal systems, improve our cost structure and build our
marketing presence in Europe and Asia. We remain confident that Diodes is
positioned to capitalize on major emerging opportunities for advanced
surface-mount devices when end-use demand picks up in sectors such as mobile
computing and wireless communications."
Q1 of FY 2001 Highlights:
- - Successful integration of FabTech wafer foundry with Diodes' product
development strategy
- - Joint development efforts result in increase in new product
introductions
- - New Asian sales team focused on expanding markets
- - Established European sales organization
- - Improved inventory management lead to 16% reduction in inventory
Commenting further on the results, Chen went on to say, "The first quarter was
our 44th consecutive quarter of profitability, a record that we have achieved
through a combination prudent expansion of our production capacity and strict
fiscal discipline. We maintained profitable operations despite a reduction of
our gross profit margin to 16.0% in the first quarter of 2001, as compared to
30.8% in the comparable quarter last year. The impact to our margins is largely
attributable to reduced capacity utilization of the Company's manufacturing
assets as well as to demand-induced fluctuations in product mix. Due to market
conditions, capacity utilization at Diodes' FabTech subsidiary has decreased 45%
as compared to the previous year, while Diodes-China's utilization has decreased
15%. In the last several months, Diodes implemented programs to cut operating
costs, including a workforce reduction of approximately 26%, which has resulted
in SG&A decreasing to 12.4% of revenues in the first quarter,
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as compared to 16.6% in the first quarter of 2000. And we will continue to
actively adjust our cost structure as appropriate to the evolving economic
climate."
"While the immediate outlook for the discrete semiconductor market continues to
be uncertain, discrete component inventories at the OEM level appear to have
begun to level off and distributor inventory is slowly decreasing, suggesting
that a new base level of demand may emerge in the next few quarters. At Diodes,
we will continue to increase our investment in R&D in 2001, so as to develop
proprietary products that deliver greater value to our customers and support
sustainable, higher margin programs. We also see an opportunity to continue to
win market share from competitors who are less committed to the market for
discrete devices. In the first quarter we added a new team to our Asia sales
force who are focused on accounts in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China, which
we see as a geographic focus of future growth. We also have successfully
initiated our European sales network, and are actively sampling customers and
taking orders. Over the course of 2001 we intend to continue to expand our
marketing efforts on a global basis, while we begin to build a pipeline of new
applications that incorporate next-generation discrete technologies," Chen
concluded.
Join us for our conference call to be broadcast live at 9:00 am PDT (12 noon
EDT) today, available via webcast at the investor section of Diodes' website at:
www.diodes.com.
About Diodes Incorporated
Diodes, Inc. (Nasdaq: DIOD) is a leading manufacturer and supplier of
high-quality discrete semiconductor products, serving the communications,
computer, electronics and automotive markets. The Company operates two Far East
subsidiaries, Diodes-China (QS-9000 & ISO-14001 certified) in Shanghai and
Diodes-Taiwan (ISO-9000 certified) in Taipei. Diodes-China's manufacturing focus
is on surface-mount devices destined for wireless devices, notebook computers,
pagers, PCMCIA cards and modems, among others. Diodes-Taiwan is our Asia-Pacific
sales, logistics and distribution center. The Company's newly acquired 5" wafer
foundry, Diodes-FabTech (QS-9000 certified), specializes in Schottky products
and is located just outside Kansas City, Missouri. The Company's ISO-9000
corporate sales, marketing, engineering and logistics headquarters is located in
Southern California. For further information, visit the Company's website at
http://www.diodes.com.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: Any statements set forth above that are not historical facts are
forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to,
such factors as fluctuations in product demand, the introduction of new
products, the Company's ability to maintain customer and vendor relationships,
technological advancements, impact of competitive products and pricing, growth
in targeted markets, risks of foreign operations, and other information detailed
from time to time in the Company's filings with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission.
Source: Diodes Incorporated
CONTACT: Crocker Coulson, Partner, Coffin Communications Group;
(818) 789-0100 e-mail: crocker.coulson@coffincg.com or Carl Wertz, Chief
Financial Officer, Diodes, Inc.; (805) 446-4800
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Recent news releases, annual reports, and SEC filings are available at the
Company's website: http://www.diodes.com. Written requests may be sent directly
to the Company, or they may be e-mailed to: diodes-fin@diodes.com.
CONSOLIDATED CONDENSED INCOME STATEMENT FOLLOWS
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DIODES INCORPORATED AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(Unaudited)
Three Months Ended
March 31,
--------------------------------
2000 2001
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Net sales $ 27,437,000 $ 25,748,000
Cost of goods sold 19,000,000 21,627,000
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Gross profit 8,437,000 4,121,000
Selling, general and administrative expenses 4,542,000 3,184,000
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Income from operations 3,895,000 937,000
Other income (expense)
Interest income 52,000 66,000
Interest expense (216,000) (740,000)
Other 6,000 (96,000)
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(158,000) (770,000)
Income before income taxes and minority interest 3,737,000 167,000
Income tax benefit (provision) (492,000) 429,000
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Income before minority interest 3,245,000 596,000
Minority interest in joint venture earnings (105,000) (75,000)
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Net income $ 3,140,000 $ 521,000
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Earnings per share
Basic $ 0.39 $ 0.06
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Diluted $ 0.34 $ 0.06
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Weighted average shares outstanding
Basic 7,985,945 8,132,559
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Diluted 9,204,491 9,029,628
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