Exhibit 99.1
Ibis Technology Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2004 Results;
SUMCO Identified as Second Major Wafer Manufacturer
to Purchase i2000 Implanter
DANVERS, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 2005--Ibis Technology
Corporation (Nasdaq NM: IBIS), a leading provider of SIMOX-SOI
implantation equipment to the worldwide semiconductor industry, today
announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year
ended December 31, 2004.
Due to the fact that the company discontinued its wafer
manufacturing business, as reported in July 2004, the recording of
wafer sales in this quarter and wafer revenue in previous quarters are
now being reported net of related costs as gain or loss from
discontinued operations in the company's statements of operations.
Financial information for this quarter and previously reported
quarterly and year to date information has been so adjusted for
comparative purposes.
Total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2004 were $274,000,
compared to $7.2 million in the preceding quarter, which included
approximately $7.0 million of equipment revenue related to the sale of
an i2000 implanter that was accepted by Ibis' customer in the third
quarter of 2004, and compared to total revenues of $227,000 in the
fourth quarter of 2003.
Net loss for the 2004 fourth quarter was $2.4 million, or $0.22
per share, which includes a gain from discontinued operations of
$202,000, or $0.02 per share. Net loss for the 2004 fourth quarter
excluding the gain from discontinued operations was $2.6 million, or
$0.24 per share. Net loss for the 2004 third quarter was $1.6 million,
or $0.15 per share, including a loss from discontinued operations of
$2.8 million, or $0.26 per share. Net income for the 2004 third
quarter excluding the loss from discontinued operations was $1.1
million, or $0.11 per share. Net loss in the fourth quarter 2003 was
$15.2 million, or $1.46 per share, including a loss from discontinued
operations of $13.0 million, or $1.25 per share. Net loss in the
fourth quarter of 2003 excluding the loss from discontinued operations
was $2.2 million, or $0.21 per share.
Fiscal 2004 total revenues were $7.9 million, compared to total
revenues of $9.4 million for fiscal year 2003. Net loss for fiscal
year 2004 was $10.9 million, or $1.02 per share, including a loss from
discontinued operations of $5.3 million, or $0.49 per share. Net loss
for fiscal 2004 excluding the loss from discontinued operations was
$5.6 million, or $0.53 per share. Net loss for fiscal year 2003 was
$21.5 million, or $2.21 per share, including a loss from discontinued
operations of $17.6 million, or $1.81 per share. Net loss for fiscal
2003 excluding the loss from discontinued operations was $3.9 million,
or $0.40 per share.
Martin J. Reid, president and CEO of Ibis Technology Corporation,
said, "2004 was a watershed year for Ibis. Early in 2004, we received
our first order from a silicon wafer manufacturer for an i2000
implanter. We view this as the first signal that the commercial demand
for SIMOX-SOI wafers had reached a point where the world's silicon
wafer manufacturers were willing to invest in developing SIMOX-SOI
manufacturing capabilities. This substantiated our long-held belief
that it will be the silicon wafer manufacturers who leverage the cost
efficiencies offered by SIMOX technology to supply the global
semiconductor industry with quality, economical SOI wafers."
In July 2004, Ibis announced that the company was discontinuing
its commercial wafer manufacturing business. "This decision," said
Reid, "erased any perception that we were competing with our wafer
supplier customers. We believe that our decision bodes well for the
future growth of our equipment business.
"Exiting the wafer business has enabled us to build closer working
relationships with the world's leading wafer manufacturers," said
Reid, "and we are now partnering with them in both technology and
market development efforts. In addition, we are now able to focus our
internal resources and energies on advancing the capabilities of our
implanters without the competing pressures of meeting production
deadlines for manufacturing SIMOX-SOI wafers. As a result, we are now
targeting ambitious improvements in both implanter throughput and
product quality over the next several quarters.
"These actions, we believe, contributed to our booking an
additional i2000 order from a second wafer supplier," said Reid.
In January 2005, Ibis announced the receipt of an implanter order
from a wafer supplier. That supplier was Sumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon
Corporation (SUMCO), one of the world's top two manufacturers of
silicon wafers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, SUMCO operates fourteen
manufacturing facilities located in Asia, Europe and the United
States.
Yoshiaki Shida, Director, General Manager of Advanced Technology
for SUMCO, said, "Over the past six months we have strengthened our
relationship with Ibis Technology for the overall benefit of SIMOX-SOI
technology. Our two teams have worked together particularly on
improving the roughness of both the SOI surface and insulator
interface. Through these efforts, we have succeeded in reducing
roughness values to a fraction of what these were, while
simultaneously improving other properties. We are now delivering
SIMOX-SOI wafers exhibiting such improvements to our customers and
working with new customers by providing evaluation wafers they are
requesting.
"We are collaborating with Ibis to improve the throughput of their
tools which in turn will help to reduce the overall cost of
SIMOX-SOI," said Shida. "We believe that the strong collaboration
between our two companies will continue to lead to improved quality
and lower cost for SIMOX-SOI. High quality and low cost will make
SIMOX-SOI the high volume SOI choice in the future."
"The progress made during 2004, we believe, signals that Ibis is
well positioned to take advantage of the emerging SOI market," said
Reid. "We believe that SIMOX-SOI can be a more cost-effective solution
to manufacturing SOI wafers for high volume production, especially now
that two of the world's leading silicon wafer manufacturers are
involved in the process."
Corporate Outlook
Commenting on the company's future outlook, Reid cautioned that
the SOI market is still in its early stages and the pace of SOI
adoption is difficult to predict. "Regarding the order we announced in
January 2005, we expect to ship the system in the second quarter of
this year, with final customer acceptance expected by year end. We are
greatly encouraged by the progress we believe we can achieve while
working in concert with our customers and, based on currently
available information, we believe we will receive another implanter
order in the second half of 2005. In addition, we expect orders for
multiple machines in 2006, once our technology improvement goals have
been met. However, forecasting implanter sales is extraordinarily
difficult and there are no guarantees that these orders will be
forthcoming."
The company ended the quarter with approximately $7.7 million in
cash and believes it will have sufficient cash on hand, including cash
received from the SUMCO order announced in January and expected to be
shipped by the end of the second quarter of 2005, to support
operations at current levels through the first quarter of 2006. These
expectations are based on current operating plans and the company's
general sales outlook, each of which may change rapidly. The company
intends to continue to invest in research, development and
manufacturing capabilities. Changes in technology or sales growth
beyond currently established capabilities may require further
investment.
Teleconference and Simultaneous Webcast
Ibis will host a teleconference to discuss its fourth quarter
results and outlook for the future on February 23, 2005 at 5:00 p.m.
ET. The dial-in number to listen to the conference call is
719-457-2626. A live webcast of the conference call will be available
at the Ibis Technology website at www.ibis.com or at
www.streetevents.com. A replay of the call will be available on these
websites for approximately one week.
About Ibis Technology
Ibis Technology Corporation is a leading provider of oxygen
implanters for the production of SIMOX-SOI
(Separation-by-Implantation-of-Oxygen Silicon-On-Insulator) wafers for
the worldwide semiconductor industry. Headquartered in Danvers,
Massachusetts, the company maintains an additional office in Aptos,
California. Ibis Technology is traded on the Nasdaq National Market
under the symbol IBIS. Information about Ibis Technology Corporation
and SIMOX-SOI is available on Ibis' web site at www.ibis.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995
This release contains express or implied forward-looking
statements regarding, among other things, (i) customer interest in and
demand for, and market acceptance of, the company's SIMOX-SOI
technology, (ii) the company's belief that wafer manufacturers will
become the primary suppliers of SIMOX-SOI wafers to the chipmaking
industry, (iii) the company's ability to conduct its operations in a
manner consistent with its current plan and existing capital resources
or otherwise to obtain additional implanter orders or to secure
financing to continue as a going concern, (iv) the timing and
likelihood of revenue recognition on orders for the company's
implanters, (v) the timing and impact of the company's decision to
discontinue its wafer manufacturing and sales operation, (vi) the
company's plan to focus on supplying implanters to wafer
manufacturers, (vii) the company's expectations regarding future
orders for i2000 implanters, and (viii) the adequacy of the company's
cash resources for future operations, and (ix) the adoption rate of
SOI technology. Such statements are neither promises nor guarantees,
but rather are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause
actual results to differ materially from those described in the
forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but
are not limited to, cessation as a going concern due to the depletion
of the company's cash reserves at an unanticipated rate combined with
an inability to obtain customer orders or to secure financing, future
continued migration to SOI technology, and market acceptance of SIMOX,
the level of demand for the company's products, the company's ability
to pursue, and maintain, further strategic relationships, partnerships
and alliances with third parties, the company's ability to protect its
proprietary technology, the potential trends in the semiconductor
industry generally, the ease with which the i2000 can be installed and
qualified in fabrication facilities, the likelihood that implanters,
if ordered, will be qualified and accepted by customers, the
likelihood and timing of revenue recognition on such transactions, the
impact of competitive products, technologies and pricing, the impact
of rapidly changing technology, the possibility of further asset
impairment and resulting charges, equipment capacity and supply
constraints or difficulties, the company's limited history in selling
implanters, general economic conditions, and other risks and
uncertainties described in the company's Securities and Exchange
Commission filings from time to time, including but not limited to,
the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
31, 2003. All information set forth in this press release is as of
February 23, 2005, and Ibis undertakes no duty to update this
information unless required by law.
Ibis Technology Corporation
Condensed Statement of Operations
Unaudited Unaudited
Quarter Ended Fiscal Year Ended
December 31, December 31,
2004 2003 2004 2003
Contract and other
revenue $93,000 $67,000 $391,000 $660,000
Equipment revenue 181,000 160,000 7,535,000 8,782,000
---------------------------------------------------
Total revenue 274,000 227,000 7,926,000 9,442,000
---------------------------------------------------
Cost of contract
and other revenue 0 10,000 15,000 44,000
Cost of equipment
revenue 359,000 316,000 4,722,000 4,331,000
---------------------------------------------------
Gross profit
(loss) (85,000) (99,000) 3,189,000 5,067,000
---------------------------------------------------
General and
administrative 468,000 673,000 2,221,000 2,337,000
Marketing and sales 378,000 278,000 1,520,000 1,236,000
Research and
development 1,731,000 1,173,000 5,330,000 5,381,000
---------------------------------------------------
Income (loss)
from operations (2,662,000) (2,223,000) (5,882,000) (3,887,000)
Other income
(expense) 59,000 30,000 241,000 35,000
---------------------------------------------------
Income (loss) from
continuing
operations (2,603,000) (2,193,000) (5,641,000) (3,852,000)
Gain (loss) from
discontinued
operations 202,000 (13,034,000) (5,278,000) (17,598,000)
---------------------------------------------------
Net income
(loss) ($2,401,000)($15,227,000)($10,919,000)($21,450,000)
---------------------------------------------------
Income (loss) from continuing
operations per share:
Basic ($0.24) ($0.21) ($0.53) ($0.40)
Diluted ($0.24) ($0.21) ($0.53) ($0.40)
Weighted average number of shares used in income (loss) from
continuing operations per share calculation:
Basic 10,685,994 10,418,729 10,665,842 9,727,513
Diluted 10,685,994 10,418,729 10,665,842 9,727,513
Net income (loss)
per share:
Basic ($0.22) ($1.46) ($1.02) ($2.21)
Diluted ($0.22) ($1.46) ($1.02) ($2.21)
Weighted average number of shares used in net income
(loss) per share calculation:
Basic 10,685,994 10,418,729 10,665,842 9,727,513
Diluted 10,685,994 10,418,729 10,665,842 9,727,513
Condensed Balance Sheets
Unaudited Unaudited
December 31, December 31,
2004 2003
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $7,726,000 $14,175,000
Accounts receivable 35,000 124,000
Unbilled revenue 0 529,000
Inventories 5,625,000 1,758,000
Other current assets 761,000 247,000
Assets held for sale 131,000 0
------------ ------------
Current assets 14,278,000 16,833,000
Property and equipment 6,325,000 16,841,000
Other assets 1,680,000 1,669,000
------------ ------------
Total assets $22,283,000 $35,343,000
============ ============
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable $393,000 405,000
Accrued Liabilities 1,418,000 2,385,000
Capital lease obligation, current $0 $1,184,000
Deferred revenue 52,000 252,000
------------ ------------
Current liabilities 1,863,000 4,226,000
------------ ------------
Stockholders' equity 20,420,000 31,117,000
------------ ------------
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity$22,283,000 $35,343,000
============ ============
CONTACT: Company Contact:
Ibis Technology Corporation
William J. Schmidt, 978-777-4247
Chief Financial Officer
or
IR Agency Contact:
Bill Monigle Associates
Bill Monigle, 603-424-1184
President