Third quarter net sales of € 147.4 million, down 3.7% from net sales of the previous quarter and up 5.3% from net sales of the third quarter of 2002;
Third quarter net loss of € (9.2) million or € (0.19) per share as compared to a net loss of € (6.2) million or € (0.13) per share for the previous quarter and a net loss of € (4.6) million or € (0.09) per share for the third quarter of 2002;
Third quarter bookings of € 130.8 million, up 17.0% from the previous quarter.
Nine months bookings of € 392.5 million, compared to € 429.5 million in the first nine months of 2002, a decrease of 8.6%;
Quarter-end backlog of € 117.1 million, down 12.4% from the previous quarter, Book-to-Bill ratio for the third quarter of 0.89;
Over the first nine months of 2003 the Book-to-Bill ratio was 0.94.
Outlook
There are signs of general improvement in the semiconductor industry that should filter to the equipment sector in coming quarters. At the same time, the momentum developing in our Back-end operations may be a precursor for the equipment sector as a whole. But we are still waiting for a convincing acceleration of booking activity in the industry's Front-end segment.
This situation continues to create volatility in our order intake that makes reliable projections difficult. Considering the lower level of Front-end bookings over the past quarters, we expect fourth quarter consolidated sales and net results ( before restructuring expenses ) at a lower level than the third quarter of 2003.