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Asyst Sales Up Modestly, Confirms Option-Granting Suit Filed
Staff Reporter -- Electronic News, 8/3/2006
Fremont, Calif.-based semiconductor automation tool provider Asyst Technologies Inc. today reported sales for its fiscal Q1 ended June 30 of $117 million, up 6.4 percent from $110 million in fiscal Q4 2006.
Net sales of tool and fab automation products to ATI were $51 million, compared to $46 million in the prior quarter, while net sales of automated material handling systems (AMHS) at Asyst Shinko Inc. (ASI) were $66 million, compared to $64 million in the prior quarter.
Total bookings for fiscal Q1 2007 were $173 million, up 12 percent sequentially from $154 million in fiscal Q4 2006.
Bookings at ATI were essentially flat with the prior sequential quarter at $55 million, but were up 75 percent year-over-year.
Bookings of two of the company’s new products – the Spartan sorter and Spartan equipment front-end module, collectively doubled quarter-over-quarter. Bookings at ASI increased 19 percent to $118 million, driven by continued strength in 300mm AMHS systems, the company believes. Asyst’s overall book-to-bill ratio was 1.48:1 and backlog was approximately $213 million.
As previously announced, the company reminded it will not be in a position to announce additional fiscal Q1 2007 GAAP or non-GAAP financial results until a special committee of independent directors has completed its previously announced inquiry into the company’s past stock option grants and practices.
Also, the company will not be able to file its Form 10-Q for the fiscal Q1 2007 with the SEC or its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31 until the special committee inquiry and related accounting review are completed. As announced previously, the company currently does not expect that the inquiry and related accounting review will be completed until after the date its Form 10-Q for the fiscal Q1 is required to be filed.
Finally, Asyst said that on August 1, it was informed that a purported shareholder derivative action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Calif. The complaint against various officers and directors of the company alleges various claims based upon the company’s alleged practices in granting stock options from 1995 through the present.
