IXYS Reports Rising Gross Margins

IXYS Corporation today announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2015. Net revenues for the quarter were $82.0 million versus $88.1 million for the same period in the prior fiscal year. Net revenues were generally in line quarter-over-quarter, when comparing the June 2015 quarter revenues to the $82.9 million achieved in the March 2015 quarter. GAAP net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 was $3.0 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, compared to the net income of $3.6 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the prior year's quarter.

Gross profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 was $25.6 million, or 31.2% of net revenues, an increase of 280 basis points as compared to gross profit of $25.0 million, or 28.4% of net revenues, for the same quarter in the prior fiscal year. Sequentially, our gross profit margin increased by 70 basis points over the gross profit margin in the March 2015 quarter.

“We continued actions to improve gross margins, by focusing on higher value-added power semiconductor products in the industrial, telecom, medical, transportation and renewable energy markets. Parallel to that, we also executed on our selective acquisition strategy to add IC products that complement our product portfolio,” noted Dr. Nathan Zommer, Founder and CEO of IXYS. “With the acquisition of RadioPulse, IXYS gained technology, products and customers in the faster-growing lighting and home security markets.”

Cash and cash equivalents totaled $118.2 million at June 30, 2015, after generating $9.4 million in cash from operations during the quarter. Approximately $15 million of cash was deployed to complete the acquisition of the aforementioned RadioPulse, a fabless semiconductor company that provides innovative wireless system-on-a-chip solutions in the ZigBee connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT) markets. The company declared a $0.035 quarterly dividend, which was paid on July 7, 2015 to stockholders of record on June 23, 2015. This marks the 11th consecutive quarter of dividends.

“In volatile European and Asian market conditions, customers are not projecting far into the future and therefore are ordering on short lead times. IXYS is well positioned to take advantage of this sales pattern, with the fab manufacturing facilities working to meet tight delivery deadlines,” said Mr. Uzi Sasson, President and Chief Financial Officer of IXYS. “However, there is only modest growth in the semiconductor industry. We expect limited market visibility through the summer, but anticipate our September 2015 quarter revenues to be in line with the revenues of the June 2015 quarter.”