INFICON Announces Third Quarter 2005 Results

INFICON Announces Third Quarter 2005 Results; Board to Propose Dividend Program in 2006; Long Term Operating Goals Announced

SYRACUSE, N.Y. & ZURICH, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 20, 2005--INFICON (SWX Swiss Exchange: IFCN), a leading manufacturer of 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, 2005 and additional corporate actions.

Revenues for the third quarter of 2005 were $45.5 million, compared to $43.7 million for the third quarter of 2004, representing a 4.1% increase. On a constant dollar basis, revenues for the quarter increased 4.2%. The company reported net income of $3.2 million, or $1.36 per diluted share, compared to $66,000, or $0.03 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2004, which included a $1.5 million loss from discontinued operations.

Revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2005 were $143.6 million compared to $140.8 million for the same period in 2004, representing a 1.9% increase. On a constant dollar basis, revenues increased 0.0%. Net income for the period was $10.4 million, or $4.43 per diluted share, compared to net income of $7.7 million, or $3.29 per diluted share, in the first nine months of 2004.

Lukas Winkler, president and chief executive officer, commented, "This quarter we made substantial progress with initiatives aimed at improving our operating model, and we began to see the benefits of this effort. We achieved a 9.8% operating margin and exceeded our net income target for the quarter, although lower sales to our private label customers in the general vacuum processes market resulted in a slight shortfall from our third-quarter guidance of $47.0 million. Our improved operational leverage also helped us increase operating cash flow in the third quarter and pushed cash and short term investments to an all-time high of $66.8 million. Reflecting the company's strong cash generating capabilities, our board of directors intends to start paying an annual dividend and to propose an amount of 5CHF per share for the fiscal year 2005 at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders scheduled for May, 2006."

Continuing his review of the company's third quarter performance, Mr. Winkler said, "In the semiconductor and vacuum coating markets, we had good order flow from Asia, most notably Taiwan and Japan, for INFICON advanced process control software and sensors. However, the optical data storage equipment market continued to be slow. In the refrigeration and air conditioning market, although the third quarter is a seasonally slower period, sales remained strong as hot weather in the U.S. throughout the summer positively impacted the after-market service sector. As expected, sales for our environmental health and security products almost doubled from last year's third quarter due to several good-sized shipments to U.S. government agencies.

"Assuming continued modest capital spending in the markets INFICON serves, we expect revenues for the fourth quarter of 2005 to remain essentially flat at approximately $47.0 million, compared to $47.3 million in sales for the fourth quarter of 2004. However, we anticipate a significant year over year increase in net income due to our continued focus on improving the company's operational leverage, and we believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on a potential resurgence in our markets. In the fourth quarter of 2005, we project net income of $3.5 million, or $1.48 per diluted share, compared to $1.8 million, or $0.75 per diluted share, in the same period last year.

"Looking forward to 2006, we intend to achieve moderate annual sales growth of 5 -10% and an operating margin of approximately 12%. In the longer term, we plan to reach and sustain an even higher operating margin. We will report on our progress quarterly."

Conference Call Information

INFICON will hold a conference call to discuss its third quarter 2005 results on Thursday, October 20, 2005 at 04:00 p.m. CET /10:00 a.m. ET. 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 be available in the Investor Relations section of the INFICON website, www.inficon.com.

A Third Quarter 2005 Presentation will be available in the Investor Relations section of the INFICON website prior to the conference call.

A telephone replay of the call will be available from 7:00 p.m. CET/1:00 p.m. ET on October 20 through 5:59 a.m. October 28 CET/11:59 p.m. ET on October 27. To access the replay, please dial +1.706.645.9291, conference ID # 9607390. An archived replay of the conference webcast also will be available on the INFICON website.

Email Alerts: The latest financial information from INFICON can automatically be sent via Email Alert; sign up is available in the Investor Relations section of the INFICON website.

ABOUT INFICON
INFICON is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of innovative instrumentation, critical sensor technologies, and advanced process control software for the semiconductor and vacuum-coating industries and other industrial applications. These 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 to the air conditioning/refrigeration industries and toxic chemical analysis for the emergency response and security 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. INFICON is a publicly listed company, registered with the Swiss Stock Exchange (SWX). For more information about INFICON and its products, please visit 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 for fiscal 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.