Singulus Reports 2010 Financial Results

Singulus Technologies announced financial results for its fiscal year 2010.

According to the statement, revenues came in at €120.1 million (US $170.27) for the year, up from €116.6 million (US $165.31) in 2009. Sales within the company’s optical disc division increased €20.0 million (US $28.36) over 2009 and totalled €88.7 million (US $125.75) for the year.

In terms of optical disc equipment sales, Singulus reported that it has a total installed based of 86 Blu-ray Disc (BD) production lines at over 30 customers around the world, including 40 lines in the U.S. and South America (BD-ROM), 26 in Europe (BD-ROM) and 20 in Asia (8 BD-ROM, 12 BD-R/RE).

Currency conversion as of March 31, 2011.

For more information visit: www.singulus.de


Edited press release follows:

SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG announces Figures for 2010
March 31, 2011

* Orders intake 56 % up compared to previous year
* Sales slightly above previous year’s level despite disposal
* Key figures for year influenced by restructuring and balance sheet adjustments
* Substantial rise in Blu-ray sales
* Solar area gaining momentum

Kahl am Main, March, 31 2011 – SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Group (SINGULUS) achieved revenue of € 120.1 million (2009: € 116.6 million), in the financial year 2010. Despite the disposal of Hamatech APE in January 2010 and the resulting deconsolidation, revenue for the group is up on the previous year.

In the Optical Disc segment sales increased by € 20.0 million compared with the previous year’s level and totaled € 88.7 million as of the end of the period under review. Within the Solar division sales in the amount of € 25.5 million (2009: € 36.0 million), were realized, which means a decline by € 10.5 million compared with the previous year. In the Semiconductor division we realized sales of € 5.9 million as of the end of the year under review. The order intake came to € 128.2 million in the year under review (previous year: € 81.1 million) and was 58.1 % above previous year’s level. The order backlog at the end of the year 2010 amounted to € 35.5 million and was therefore around previous year’s level (previous year: € 34.7 million).

The earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were negative at € – 80.2 million (previous year: € -73.3 million). Adjusted for restructuring and impairment expenses totaling € 53.0 million an EBIT in the amount of € -27.2 million resulted (previous year: € -40.4 million). In addition, the operating result in the year under review was burdened by one-off charges in the amount of € 14.3 million.

The financial result was negative at € -4.7 million and therefore improved by € 1.4 million compared with the previous year (previous year: € -6.1 million). The net profit for the full year was negative at € – 77.9 million and thus mainly characterized by one-off expenses in the period under review (previous year: € -78.9 million). Excluding restructuring and impairment charges a negative result in the amount of € -27.2 million was incurred (previous year: € -40.4 million). In the year under review the cash flow from operating activities was negative at € 6.9 million. In the prior-year period the operating cash flow was positive at € 0.2 million. Liquid funds amounted to € 12.3 million as of December 31.

At the end of 2010 the SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Group employed 459 people in total (previous year: 572 employees, reduction due to the Deinvestment of HamaTech APE).

Outlook
SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES is very well positioned for the future and has good chances to return to a stage of stable earnings again. We are convinced that we will be able to achieve our targets for the year 2011. The internal prerequisites have been implemented, the external economic conditions have developed favorably and provide a solid foundation.

Optical Disc
In its “Blu-ray Disc Replication Report” in November 2010 the market research institute Futuresource Consulting announced that the global Blu-ray production increased sharply by 60 % compared with the year 2009. The required production capacity for the manufacturing of Blu- ray Discs is set to nearly triple and to amount to more than 3.0 billion discs. In the Optical Disc segment SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES is the only one-stop provider globally as well as the global market for Blu-ray machines and expects strong growth in this area in the coming years. Excellent products, a unique market position and top service performance form the basis for a profitable Optical Disc segment for our company. We expect this trend to continue in 2012 as well.

Solar
The study of the Sarasin bank concludes that the demand for solar energy has been relatively crisis-resistant in the past two years. The photovoltaics (PV) industry achieved a growth rate of 87 % or 13.8 GW of new installed PV output. Globally € 28 billion were invested. In 2010 the worldwide output of solar-generated electricity exceeded 30 GW. In the period from 2009 to 2015 global installations are forecasted to increase by 33 % per year on average. In particular the markets in China (+77 %) and the US (+70 %) are rising sharply. For Europe a growth of around 16 % per year is projected. Bank Sarasin expects an increase to 116 GW in total by 2020.

In the Solar segment SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES will continue to further assert itself in the field of production technology for crystalline and thin-film solar cells. Several projects for individual and complete systems are currently in negotiations and indicate respective order intake in 2011. The Executive Board is confident that the company will succeed in expanding the business activities in the Solar division as planned, so that this segment will contribute sustainably to the Group’s results. Therefore, we already project our Solar segment to break- even in 2011.

The first large orders for Optical Disc and Solar already are booked in the first quarter. SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES expects for the fiscal 2011 to break-even for the group as well.

Key figures