ALMERE, The Netherlands - March 6, 2012 - ASM International N.V. (NASDAQ: ASMI and Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) reports today its fourth quarter 2011 and full year 2011 (unaudited) operating results in accordance with US GAAP.
Highlights
Net sales for the fourth quarter 2011 were EUR 352 million, a decrease of 6% quarter-to-quarter and on the same level year-on-year. Excluding the acquired SEAS business, net sales decreased 3% quarter-to-quarter. Net sales of our Front-end segment increased 10% quarter-to-quarter while comparable Back-end sales decreased by 11%.

Result from operations for Q4 2011 was EUR 27 million (including special items EUR 19 million). Result from operations in Q3 2011 was EUR 51 million (including special items EUR 149 million) while the fourth quarter of 2010 showed a profit of EUR 103 million.

The Front-end segment's operating profit was EUR 9.5 million compared to EUR 13.5 million quarter-to-quarter. Q4 2010 showed an operating profit of EUR 12.5 million (including EUR 1.8 million restructuring charges);
The Back-end segment operating profit was EUR 17.7 million (including special items EUR 9.5 million) compared to EUR 37.8 million quarter-to-quarter (including special items EUR 135.7). The fourth quarter of 2010 showed an operating profit of EUR 90.0 million.

Fourth quarter 2011 net earnings were EUR 15 million compared to net earnings of EUR 81 million for the third quarter of 2011 (EUR 30 million excluding special items) and EUR 25 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Net earnings of the fourth quarter last year included effects of the revaluation of the conversion option. Excluding this revaluation net earnings were EUR 46 million.

Book to bill in the fourth quarter was 0.8. For the Front-end the book to bill was 0.9 and for the Back-end segment 0.7. The Backlog decreased from Euro 397 million at the end of the third quarter to EUR 331 million at the end of the fourth quarter.

Comment
Commenting on the results, Chuck del Prado, President and Chief Executive Officer of ASM International, said: "2011 was an important year for ASMI. In the Front-end segment we made strong inroads especially with our (PE) ALD technology, leading amongst others to an overall sales increase of 55% year on year. In Front-end both sales and operating profit reached record levels in 2011. In the Back-end segment we successfully integrated the AS business which we acquired from Siemens. In the second half of the year we especially saw in the Back-end segment a worsening of the business climate. Despite this we view that our company is well positioned for any upturn in the market. We will start a share buy-back program (up to 2 million common shares) to cover our outstanding personnel options and we will propose to the forthcoming AGM to increase the dividend from EUR 0.40 cent to EUR 0.50 cent per common share".

Outlook
Overall for the current quarter we foresee in our Back-end segment an order intake improvement for assembly equipment (excl. AS-products) and lead frames, while for our Front-end segment a lower order intake is foreseen. Combined with present backlog levels, we expect that this will lead to lower sales for both Front-end and Back-end operations in the current quarter. Beyond Q1 we expect improvements in both Front-end and Back-end.

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