Axcelis Announces First Purion H Shipment And Updates Guidance For Second Quarter 2014

BEVERLY, Mass., July 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACLS) announced that multiple systems planned for late June shipment pushed out of the second quarter due to customer timing issues, and as a result, the Company now expects revenue for the second quarter of 2014 to be between $40 million and $42 million, down from the previous revenue guidance of $55 million to $60 million. The Company expects earnings per share will be in the range of ($0.05) to ($0.07) for the quarter. Previous EPS guidance for the second quarter was a range of ($0.02) to $0.00. The Company also reported the first Purion H™ high current implanter was shipped in June to a leading Asia-Pacific chipmaker, where it will join Purion XE™ and Purion M™ systems already in place.

Kevin Brewer, executive vice president and CFO said, "Our updated guidance for the second quarter reflects late-quarter system push-outs at a time of overall muted customer spending. We expect to receive these orders in the future.  As memory spending accelerates in the second half of this year, we will benefit from the full Purion platform at a number of customers."

Brewer continued, "To ensure the success of the Purion platform as the market improves, we are driving further internal cost reduction.  We are taking steps in the third quarter to reduce our operating expenses from $20 million to $21 million down to $17 million to $18 million. This will lower our quarterly breakeven revenue to under $50 million and our operating cash breakeven to under $42 million. Our cash position remains sound and these adjustments safeguard funding for our Purion development and penetration plans." 

Chairman and CEO Mary Puma said, "We made good progress with the Purion platform in the second quarter. The shipment of our first Purion H high current implanter to a key customer is a critical milestone for Axcelis. We also secured an order for the innovative Purion M medium current implanter from a third customer, a prominent foundry. We are seeing very active levels of customer interest across the full Purion platform, reflecting our customers' belief that these systems represent a very welcome strong competitive offering to the market."

Puma continued, "We are exploring all opportunities to optimize and accelerate the market penetration of the full Purion platform to ensure our customers and investors realize the maximum benefit. Accordingly, we are looking at financing and strategic initiatives that will strengthen our long term position in the semiconductor equipment industry. We engaged Blackstone Advisory Partners to support us in these initiatives."

SEMICON West 2014
This week Axcelis will participate in the Sixth Annual CEO Investor Summit 2014 on Wednesday, July 9, 2014 in San Francisco, California, held concurrently with SEMICON West. Company executives are available through the week for investor meetings.

Second Quarter 2014 Conference Call
Axcelis will hold its earnings call to discuss results for the second quarter 2014 on Monday, August 4, 2014 at 5:00 pm ET.  The call will be available to interested listeners via an audio webcast that can be accessed through the Investors page of Axcelis' website at www.axcelis.com, or by dialing 1.888.680.0879 (1.617.213.4856 outside North America).  Participants calling into the conference call will be requested to provide the company name, Axcelis Technologies, and pass code: 57721554. Webcast replays will be available for 30 days following the call.

Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements under the SEC safe harbor provisions. These statements, which include our guidance for future financial performance, are based on management's current expectations and should be viewed with caution. They are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the Company, including the timing of orders and shipments, the conversion of orders to revenue in any particular quarter, or at all, the continuing demand for semiconductor equipment, relative market growth, continuity of business relationships with and purchases by major customers, competitive pressure on sales and pricing, increases in material and other production costs that cannot be recouped in product pricing and global economic, political and financial conditions. These risks and other risk factors relating to Axcelis are described more fully in the most recent Form 10-K filed by Axcelis and in other documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Axcelis
Axcelis (Nasdaq: ACLS), headquartered in Beverly, Mass., has been providing innovative, high-productivity solutions for the semiconductor industry for over 35 years. Axcelis is dedicated to developing enabling process applications through the design, manufacture and complete life cycle support of ion implantation systems, one of the most critical and enabling steps in the IC manufacturing process. Learn more about Axcelis at www.axcelis.com.

Company Contact

Investor Relations and Editorial/Media:
Doug Lawson
978.787.9552

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SOURCE Axcelis Technologies, Inc.