Soitec reports consolidated sales of 323.4 million Euros for the full year 2011-2012

Soitec reports consolidated sales of 323.4 million Euros

for the full year 2011-2012

· Full year sales up by 15.1% in Euros

· Full year current operating loss expected to be within guidance range at 45 million Euros with total cash resources close to 260 million Euros at the end of March 2012

· Electronic division sales anticipated to be soft for first half 2012-2013 - Solar Energy industrial ramp should deliver strong pipeline in the second half of the year

Bernin , France , 16^h April 2012 – Soitec (Euronext Paris), a world leader in generating and manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor materials for energy and electronics, today announced consolidated sales of 80.2 million Euros for the fourth quarter up by 2.0% on a yearly basis. For the full year 2011-2012 sales totalled 323.4 million Euros up by 15.1% compared to last year. The full year current operating loss is expected to be within guidance range previously issued with total cash position remaining strong at 260 million Euros. The audit procedures carried out on the consolidated financial statements by the Statutory Auditors are currently in progress.

Electronic Business Segment

During a period in which the industry was focused on reduction in inventories and with a poor economic overall environment, total Electronic sales for the fourth quarter were up 5.3% compared to the same period last year at 80.2 million Euros and up 15.1% over the full year compared to 2010-2011.

Total wafer sales for the fourth quarter were almost stable at 69.6 million Euros, down 0.9% (5.5% at constant exchange rates) on a yearly basis. Other electronic sales including Layer Transfer Solutions, Specialty Electronics and Licensing were up by 80.0% at 10.6 million Euros in the fourth quarter as LTS sales more than tripled to 7.2 million Euros. Total wafer sales for the full year recorded absolute growth of 11.7% up to 282.8 million Euros and 16.3% at constant exchange rates as the Euro/Dollar parity moved from 1.32 to 1.38 over the year.

For the full year 300 mm wafer sales represented 82% of total wafer sales and increased by 22.7% at constant exchange rates and 17.9% in Euros. Other diameters decreased by 5.5% at constant exchange and 9.2% on a reported basis as most mature markets suffered from the unfavourable environment.

Solar Energy Business Segment

The Solar Energy division reported no significant sales for the fourth quarter. Compared to last year full year sales increased by 16.8% to 6.8 million Euros.

Anticipated full year current operating loss within guidance range - total cash position ending at 260 million Euros

The full-year current operating loss is expected to be close to 45 million Euros, within guidance range. Electronics business segment which includes sustained research and development efforts in the light-emitting diode (LED) market is anticipated to be close to breakeven for the full year, while we continue to invest in our solar energy business segment to support the industrial ramp in the Freiburg and San Diego factories as well as strategic research and development programs dedicated to high efficiency solar cells. While being on track with our investment plan to support our growth strategy and having benefited from our recent capital increase, we anticipate our total cash position at the end the year to be almost flat from last year’s closing at 260 million Euros.

Electronic division sales anticipated to be soft for first half year 2012-2013 - Solar Energy industrial ramp should deliver strong pipeline in the second half of the year

Based on the most up-to-date information, total Electronic sales expected for the first half of 2012-2013 financial year expected to be around 140 million Euros assuming exchange rates at 1.30 Euros to the Dollar. A significant sequential decrease is anticipated for the first quarter which should be almost offset during the second quarter.

Recently, Soitec and the industry have announced several initiatives supported by the Electronic Division. On 12 March 2012, Soitec announced that ST-Ericsson, a leader in wireless platforms and semiconductors, had selected planar fully depleted silicon on insulator (FD-SOI) technology for use in future mobile platforms such as the upcoming NovaThor high performance, low power application processors. Building on its successes with SOI technology, IBM made public that the company will move to finFETs based on silicon-on-insulator wafers at the 14nm node as well as continuous launch of new products on 45 nm SOI and 32 nm such as the eDRAM on SOI for high performance markets.

Solar Energy sales for the first quarter should remain non significant, however in the second half of the year sales should benefit from the significant South African 50 MW contract which will be shipped from our German factory. In the second half, US operations should also benefit from the first deliveries related to our strong pipeline in California up to 355 MW which will support further growth. Over the year, Solar Energy division will continue to carry out significant investments to deliver revenue mainstream in financial year 2013-2014.

Agenda



The annual audited results for the financial year 2011-2012 will be published on 21 May 2012 before the opening of the Paris Stock Exchange.

About Soitec:

Soitec is an international manufacturing company, a world leader in generating and manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor materials at the frontier of the most exciting energy and electronic challenges. Soitec’s products include substrates for microelectronics (most notably SOI : Silicon-on-Insulator) and concentrating photovoltaic systems (CPV). The company’s core technologies are Smart Cut™, Smart Stacking™ and Concentrix™, as well as expertise in epitaxy. Applications include consumer and mobile electronics, microelectronics-driven IT, telecommunications, automotive electronics, lighting products and solar power plants for large-scale utilities. Soitec has manufacturing plants and R&D centers in France, Singapore, Germany, and the United States.

For more information, visit: www.soitec.com.

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