AIXTRON: Q1/2020 results in line with plan / Orders up year-on-year, Revenues and Earnings in line with planning / Full Year Guidance confirmed / Liquidity and Equity Ratio both at high leve

AIXTRON: Q1/2020 results in line with plan

Orders up year-on-year, Revenues and Earnings in line with planning
Full Year Guidance confirmed
Liquidity and Equity Ratio both at high levels

Herzogenrath/Germany, April 30, 2020 - AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA), a leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, today published its results for the first quarter of 2020.

- Q1/2020 Order intake at EUR 68.8m was 28% higher than in the previous year

- Revenues in Q1/2020 low as planned at EUR 41.0m, 40% below previous year

- Q1/2020 gross profit was EUR 14.6m or 36% of revenues

- Operating result (EBIT) in Q1/2020 amounted to EUR -1.1m, net income to EUR -0.8m, both significantly below the previous year's figures

- Guidance for 2020 confirmed

Order intake in the first quarter of 2020 rose year-on-year from EUR 53.6m in Q1/2019 to EUR 68.8m due to continued strong demand for our systems, especially for the increasing use of LED-based display applications, for the production of lasers for optical data transmission and 3D sensor technology, especially in mobile phones. The ongoing expansion of the 5G network and the increasing use of energy-efficient power electronics also continue to generate demand.

Equipment order backlog at March 31, 2020 amounted to EUR 146.3m, an increase of 16% over the previous year. Compared to December 31, 2019, the order backlog increased by 25% from EUR 116.7m.

Revenues (including service and spare parts) in Q1/2020 amounted to EUR 41.0m, significantly lower than in the same quarter of the previous year and the previous quarter (Q1/2019: EUR 68.7m; Q4/2019: EUR 75.1m). This is mainly due to the low order intakes in Q2 and Q3 of the previous year, which is now reflected in revenues.

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic had only a limited impact on first quarter sales. So have COVID-19-related restrictions in China led to a few deliveries to China being postponed to the next quarter at the request of our customers. Also, some systems especially in China, could not be commissioned as planned. Overall, however, revenues were in line with planning for the year as a whole.

Gross profit for the first quarter of 2020 amounted to EUR 14.6m or 36% of revenues, down roughly 45% from the same period last year. In particular the lower than planned commissioning in China had a corresponding impact on the gross margin.

Mainly as a result of the low sales levels and a lower gross margin, the operating result (EBIT) was EUR -1.1m.

The net result in Q1/2020 amounted to EUR -0.8m. The changes are mainly due to volume and margin effects.

Free cash flow was EUR 3.0m in Q1/2020. The positive free cash flow was mainly due to an increase in customer prepayments received, which was partly offset by a decrease in trade payables and an increase in inventories.

Cash and cash equivalents including short-term financial investments (bank deposits with a maturity of at least three months) increased to EUR 300.8m as of March 31, 2020, compared to EUR 298.3m as of December 31, 2019. The difference is due to increased advance payments from customers and the settlement of receivables during the quarter.

Key Financials

Business Development in Q1/2020

Despite the global economic constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, our first quarter 2020 results were largely in line with our expectations. However, as a result of the pandemic, a small number of equipment deliveries and some start-ups were postponed into subsequent quarters, but AIXTRON's own operations and production continued without interruption. Order intake in Q1 was driven by high demand for our systems in almost all business areas. The low order intake in the summer of last year resulted in low revenues and correspondingly low earnings in Q1/2020. Our high liquidity and the unchanged high equity ratio are an expression of our financial strength.

Guidance

From today's perspective, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the AIXTRON Group's business is not considered significant, and therefore, in light of the current order backlog and market development, the Executive Board confirms its guidance for fiscal year 2020.

Based on the current corporate structure, the assessment of the order situation and the budget exchange rate of 1.20 USD/EUR, we expect order intake for the Group during 2020 to be in a range between EUR 260 million and EUR 300 million. With revenues in a range between EUR 260 million and EUR 300 million, Management expects to achieve a gross margin of around 40% and an EBIT margin of between 10% and 15% of revenues in fiscal year 2020.

AIXTRON's Executive Board will continuously monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and the movement of goods, in order to assess and - if necessary - take corrective action in the event of any potential impact on AIXTRON's own supply chain, production, and customer demand.

Management Review

Dr. Bernd Schulte, President of AIXTRON SE, comments: "Our Q1 results are largely in line with our planning. From today's perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic has no significant impact on our business. We should be able to make up for the delay in some deliveries to China in the first quarter and the postponement of installations mainly in China in the course of the year. We are thus confirming our forecast for fiscal 2020."

"We are pleased that, despite the special global situation, we remain fully operational and able to meet our customer demand. The OLED qualification process at our customer is making technical progress and we are advancing well. We see solid demand for our MOCVD systems in all our other business areas - be it for Mini and Micro LEDs, Lasers or Power Electronics", comments Dr. Felix Grawert, President of AIXTRON SE.

Financial Statements

The Q1/2020 results presentation is available at https://www.aixtron.com/en/investors/publications.

The consolidated financial statements (income statement, statement of comprehensive income, balance sheet, cash flow statement, statement of changes in equity) relating to this press release are part of AIXTRON's Q1/2020 quarterly report and are available at https://www.aixtron.com/en/investors/publications.

Investor Conference Call

In conjunction with the announcement of the first quarter 2020 results, AIXTRON will hold a conference call for analysts and investors on Thursday, April 30, 2020 at 15:00 CEST (06:00 PDT, 09:00 EDT).

To participate, you must register in advance on the registration page.

Please register here: Registration Webcast

After registration you will receive an e-mail with the dial-in number and your personal access data for the conference. Thereafter you can dial into the conference from 14:45 CEST (05:45 PDT, 08:45 EDT) using either of the following telephone numbers:

+49 30 232531508 Germany local (English); +1 516-269-8979 United States local

For authentication, enter the conference PIN and the personal PIN that you received by e-mail after registering online.

Further information, an audio recording or a transcript can be found after the conference at https://www.aixtron.com/en/investors/events/conference-calls.

Contact:

Guido Pickert
Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
T: +49 (2407) 9030-444
M: invest@aixtron.com

Andrea Koegler-Ihler
Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
T: +49 (2407) 9030-6153
M: invest@aixtron.com

For further information on AIXTRON (FSE: AIXA, ISIN DE000A0WMPJ6) please consult our website at: www.aixtron.com.

Our registered trademarks: AIXACT^(R), AIXTRON^(R), APEVA^(R), Atomic Level SolutionS^(R), Close Coupled Showerhead^(R), CRIUS^(R), EXP^(R), EPISON^(R), Gas Foil Rotation^(R), Optacap(TM), OVPD^(R), Planetary Reactor^(R), PVPD^(R), STExS^(R), TriJet^(R)

Due to rounding, numbers presented throughout this document may not add up precisely to the totals indicated and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures for the same reason.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements regarding the business, results of operations, financial condition and earnings outlook of AIXTRON. These statements may be identified by words such as "may", "will", "expect", "anticipate", "contemplate", "intend", "plan", "believe", "continue" and "estimate" and variations of such words or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on our current assessments, expectations and assumptions, of which many are beyond control of AIXTRON, and are subject to risks and uncertainties. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Should these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying expectations not occur or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements of AIXTRON may materially vary from those described explicitly or implicitly in the relevant forward-looking statement. This could result from a variety of factors, such as actual customer orders received by AIXTRON, the level of demand for deposition technology in the market, the timing of final acceptance of products by customers, the condition of financial markets and access to financing for AIXTRON, general conditions in the market for deposition plants and macroeconomic conditions, cancellations, rescheduling or delays in product shipments, production capacity constraints, extended sales and qualification cycles, difficulties in the production process, the general development in the semi-conductor industry, increased competition, fluctuations in exchange rates, availability of public funding, fluctuations and/or changes in interest rates, delays in developing and marketing new products, a deterioration of the general economic situation and any other factors discussed in any reports or other announcements , in particular in the chapter Risks in the Annual Report, filed by AIXTRON. Any forward-looking statements contained in this document are based on current expectations and projections of the executive board based on information available the date hereof. AIXTRON undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless expressly required to do so by law.

This document is an English language translation of a document in German language. In case of discrepancies, the German language document shall prevail and shall be the valid version.