INFICON Announces Third Quarter 2004 Results

SYRACUSE, N.Y. & ZURICH, Switzerland, Oct 21, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- INFICON (SWX Swiss Exchange and NASDAQ:IFCN), a leading manufacturer of vacuum instrumentation and process control software for the semiconductor and vacuum-coating industries and other industrial applications, today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2004. The company's final results exceeded revised guidance for third-quarter earnings provided on September 30, 2004 due to stronger revenue in the last days of the quarter.

Revenues for the third quarter of 2004 were $43.7 million, compared to $37.9 million for the third quarter of 2003, representing a 15% increase. On a constant dollar basis, revenues for the quarter increased 10%. The company reported income from continuing operations of $1.6 million and a charge of $1.4 million for disposal of discontinued operations, related primarily to a valuation allowance on deferred tax assets associated with its Patterning Solutions product line. Including this one-time charge, the company reported net income of $66 thousand ($0.03 per diluted share - $0.00 per ADS). In the third quarter of 2003, the company reported a net loss of $8.6 million ($3.73 per diluted share - $0.37 per ADS). The 2003 results included one-time charges with a net impact of $8.6 million.

Revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2004 were $140.8 million compared to $113.0 million for the same period in 2003, representing a 25% increase. On a constant dollar basis, revenues for the period increased 19%. The company reported income from continuing operations of $9.9 million and net income of $7.7 million ($3.29 per diluted share - $0.33 per ADS). As of September 30, 2004, the company had $52.1 million in cash and cash equivalents, having generated $16.8 million from operations during the first nine months of the year.

Lukas Winkler, president and chief executive officer, commented, "The third quarter was a period of solid performance for INFICON although, as previously announced, our results were impacted by the timing of U.S. government orders for HAPSITE, our chemical identification detector, and by softness in the data storage market. Despite decelerating demand in the semiconductor industry, our overall business remained strong because of our focus on the growing 300mm segment of the market and our broad base of business in other sectors.

"Based on our existing pipeline of opportunities and the current environment in our industries, we expect to generate sales in the range of $43 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. In addition, we see the potential for more sales of HAPSITE depending on the timing of large U.S. government orders. This guidance is approximately on par with this year's third quarter sales and down approximately 4% from last year's fourth quarter sales of $44.5 million. Excluding a possible gain or loss related to exiting our Patterning Solutions product line, we expect net income of approximately $800,000 ($0.34 per diluted share - $0.03 per ADS)."

Semiconductor Vacuum Instrumentation segment revenues were $11.9 million in the third quarter of 2004, compared to $7.9 million in the same quarter of 2003. General Vacuum Instrumentation segment revenues for the third quarter of 2004 were $31.8 million, compared to $30.0 million in the same period last year.

Conference Call Information

INFICON will hold a conference call to discuss its third quarter 2004 results on Thursday, October 21, 2004 at 4:00 p.m. CET/10:00 a.m. EDT. To access the conference call, please dial +1.706.634.1033 at least 10 minutes prior to the call. A live webcast of the conference call will also be available in the Investor Relations section of the INFICON website, www.inficon.com.

A telephone replay of the call will be available from 7:00 p.m. CET/1:00 p.m. EDT on October 21 through 5:59 a.m. October 29 CET/11:59 p.m. EDT on October 28. To access the replay, please dial +1.800.642.1687 (international callers dial +1.706.645.9291), conference ID #1203046. An archived replay of the conference webcast also will be available on the INFICON Web site.

ABOUT INFICON
INFICON is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of innovative vacuum instrumentation, critical sensor technologies, and advanced process control software for the semiconductor and vacuum-coating industries and other industrial applications. This analysis, measurement and control products are vital to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and end-users in the complex manufacturing of semiconductors, flat panel displays, magnetic and optical storage media and precision optics. INFICON also provides essential instrumentation for gas leak detection and toxic chemical analysis to the air conditioning/refrigeration, emergency response and industrial hygiene markets. Headquartered in Syracuse, New York, INFICON has world-class manufacturing facilities in the United States and Europe and worldwide offices in the U.S., China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. For more information about INFICON and its products, please visit the Company's website at www.inficon.com.

This press release and oral statements or other written statements made, or to be made, by us contain forward-looking statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts. Forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "believe", "will", "expect", "project", "assume", "estimate", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "resumes", "opportunity," "potential", "outlook", "forecast" or "guidance." These forward-looking statements address, among other things, our strategic objectives, trends in vacuum technology and in the industries that employ vacuum instrumentation, such as the semiconductor and related industries and the anticipated effects of these trends on our business. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of our management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect our current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. Some of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for fiscal 2003 and the Company's reports on Form 6-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission during 2004. As a consequence, our current and anticipated plans and our future prospects, results of operations and financial condition may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of our company. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.