August Technology Corp. said today that it recorded a loss in Q1 thanks to merger expenses, but saw record revenues from its front-end inspection systems.
The small Minneapolis-based inspection company that is at the center of a rather large merger tussle and related legal battle posted revenues of $18.4 million, an increase of 10 percent sequentially and 12 percent year over year.
As a result it recorded a net loss of 5 cents per share. Excluding merger expenses, August recorded net income of 2 cents per share. In Q4 it recorded a net loss of 2 cents per share, and a net income of 8 cents per diluted share in Q1 2004.
Revenue from front-end wafer defect inspection systems grew sequentially to 52 percent of total revenues, driven by record revenues from front end, all-surface inspection systems. August also reported that it had recently received front-end inspection system orders from three new accounts, including a multiple unit order received in the past three weeks.
While August is most known for its defect inspection technology for backend or final manufacturing applications, it has been aggressively courting the emerging market for defect inspection in the front-end of chip manufacturing. It touts itself as the only company to offer all surface inspection: front-side of the wafer, the backside and the edge of the wafer.
It is this apparent success that has it in the middle of a three-way tug of war between KLA-Tencor, Rudolph Technologies and Nanometrics, not to mention two related investor-driven class action lawsuits.
"We are very pleased with our first quarter financial performance in combination with record business in our front-end market segment," Jeff O'Dell, August's chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "As recently reported by Gartner, August Technology has achieved over 30 percent market share for front-end macro inspection. This growth has been achieved since our expansion into front-end wafer processing inspection applications in 2003.
"As we look ahead, without any convincing signs that capital spending will increase industry-wide, we anticipate second quarter revenues will be relatively flat, ranging from minus 5 percent to plus 5 percent," O'Dell said. "We continue to believe increased adoption of advanced macro inspection and our ability to bring to market innovative yield-enhancing solutions will allow us to grow revenues and outperform the industry in 2005."