ALMERE, The Netherlands - October 24, 2012 - ASM International N.V. (NASDAQ: ASMI and Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) reports today its third quarter (unaudited) operating results in accordance with US GAAP.
Highlights
Net sales for the third quarter 2012 were EUR 409 million, an increase of 8% quarter-to-quarter and 9% year-on-year. Net sales of our Front-end segment increased 11% quarter-to-quarter while Back-end sales increased by 7%.

Result from operations for Q3 2012 was EUR 32 million. Result from operations in Q2 2012 was EUR 39 million while the third quarter of 2011 showed a profit of EUR 51 million (excluding a gain on the bargain purchase of SEAS of EUR 98 million).

The Front-end segment's operating loss was EUR 1.6 million compared to a loss of EUR 1.9 million quarter-to-quarter. Q3 2011 showed an operating profit of EUR 13.5 million;
The Back-end segment operating profit was EUR 33.6 million compared to EUR 40.5 million quarter-to-quarter. Q3 2011 showed an operating profit of EUR 37.8 million (excluding a gain on the bargain purchase of SEAS of EUR 97.9 million).

Third quarter 2012 net earnings were EUR 5 million compared to net earnings of EUR 18 million for the second quarter of 2012 and EUR 30 million for the third quarter of 2011 (excluding a net gain on the bargain purchase of EUR 51 million).

Book to bill in the third quarter was 0.7, both for the Front-end and for the Back-end segment. The Backlog decreased from Euro 439 million at the end of the second quarter 2012 to EUR 295 million at the end of the third quarter 2012.

Comment
Commenting on the results, Chuck del Prado, President and Chief Executive Officer of ASM International, said: "While sales, both in Front-end and Back-end showed, despite worsening market conditions, a healthy growth, our results were lagging behind. In our Back-end operations this was mainly caused by increased price pressure, product mix and lower volume in the assembly equipment segment. In our Front-end operations pressure on our gross margin was caused by customer mix and high under-absorption which is mainly due to worsening market conditions during the third quarter. We have started a cost reduction program in our Front-end operations, which should lead to cost reductions in the course of 2013, especially in our manufacturing and overhead organization."

Outlook
Based on the current order book we expect for the fourth quarter a double digit sales decrease for both Front-end and Back-end. For our Back-end operations we do only see a recovery earliest in the course of the first quarter of 2013. We expect our Front-end operations to show a strong order intake in Q4.

About ASM International
ASM International N.V., headquartered in Almere, the Netherlands, and its subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International and its subsidiaries provide production solutions for wafer processing (Front-end segment) as well as assembly and packaging (Back-end segment) through facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock trades on NASDAQ (symbol ASMI) and the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASMI's website at www.asm.com