Full year 2004 net sales of € 754.2 million, up 29.6% from net sales of € 581.9 million for the full year 2003. Sales from our Front-end segment were up 24.1% and sales from our Back-end segment were up 35.0%;
Net earnings for the full year 2004 were € 24.0 million or € 0.47 per share as compared to a net loss of € (32.1) million or € (0.65) per share for the full year 2003;
Full year 2004 bookings of € 742.0 million, up 16.3% from bookings of € 637.9 million for the full year 2003;
Fourth quarter of 2004 net sales of € 162.6 million, down 11.5% from the third quarter of 2004 and down 0.6% from the fourth quarter of 2003. Net sales of our Front-end segment experienced a significant quarter over quarter increase in the fourth quarter of 2004, offset by a further contraction of the Back-end segment;
Fourth quarter of 2004 net earnings were € 1.4 million or € 0.03 per share, as compared to net earnings of € 3.7 million or € 0.07 per share for the third quarter of 2004 and a net loss of € (6.2) million or € (0.12) per share in the fourth quarter of 2003;
Bookings in the fourth quarter of 2004 were € 127.0 million, down 19.2% from the third quarter of 2004. Year-end backlog was € 186.8 million, down 16.0% from the end of the previous quarter.


BILTHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS, February 24, 2005 - ASM International N.V. (NASDAQ: ASMI and Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) reports today its final 2004 fourth quarter and full year results.

The net earnings for the year ended December 31, 2004 were € 24.0 million or € 0.47 basic net earnings per share and € 0.46 diluted net earnings per share, compared to a net loss of € (32.1) million or € (0.65) basic and diluted net loss per share for the year ended December 31, 2003. The net loss for the year ended December 31, 2003 included € 6.5 million restructuring charges in our Front-end segment.

The net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2004 amounted to € 1.4 million, or € 0.03 basic and diluted net earnings per share, compared to a net loss of € (6.2) million or € (0.12) basic and diluted net loss per share for the same period in 2003. The net loss for the fourth quarter of 2003 included € 6.0 million restructuring charges in our Front-end segment.

On a consolidated level 2004 was a year of recovery. ASMI experienced increased order levels in the second half of 2003 and the first half of 2004 which resulted in increased sales levels, while the order intake and sales weakened in the second half of 2004. The Back-end segment achieved record sales in the first half of 2004, measured in the reporting currency of the Back-end segment, the Hong Kong dollar, but experienced a sharp decrease of order intake and sales in the second half of 2004. The Front-end segment achieved increased sales for each quarter in 2004 and experienced only a moderate slow-down of bookings in the fourth quarter of 2004.

Overall, ASMI achieved a positive performance in each quarter of 2004, with earnings from operations of € 88.4 million for the full year 2004, compared to € 14.2 million for the full year 2003.

In December 2004 we strengthened the Company’s financial position by issuing US$ 150.0 million of 4.25% convertible subordinated notes, which are listed on Euronext Amsterdam. The notes were issued to ensure that the Company has sufficient liquidity to deal with the maturity of the US$ 115.0 million 5% convertible subordinated notes, which are due November 2005.

The consolidated financial statements include the operations of our 100% subsidiary ASM NuTool, Inc. (NuTool) as from June 2, 2004 and our 100% subsidiary Genitech Inc. (Genitech) as from August 5, 2004.

Outlook

On the short term we expect net sales and net earnings in the first quarter of 2005 to be at lower levels than the fourth quarter of 2004. We believe that the momentum will improve as from the second quarter of 2005 onwards.

For the full year 2005 ASMI is optimistic in its outlook for sales levels of our Front-end wafer processing equipment. While there is nothing certain about the effect of global economic and market forces on demand for products, processes and services in our industry, the optimism is based on our success in recent years in tracking both the ITRS and major customer roadmaps. We have had success in seeding the new technologies applied to sub-micron device structures at leading customers, all of which, we believe, is bringing ASMI’s Front-end operations to a new era of performance capability, enabling us to achieve growth and continuously higher market shares, and thus be more resilient to the industry’s cycles. In 2005 we also expect to see the first contribution of our Front-end manufacturing facility in Singapore that will improve cost–effectiveness and strengthen gross profit margins.

We also are confident that our Back-end segment will continue to increase its market position and its historical pattern of outperforming the industry regardless of the semiconductor cycle stage.

We believe that the combined thrust in Front-end and the historical success we have had in Back-end, portends well for our performance in 2005 and beyond. Barring unforeseen circumstances and with some caution ASMI also reconfirms its earlier statement that we expect the Front-end segment to achieve increased annual sales as well as positive earnings from operations in 2005.