SEZ Group has Record Year: 2000 Sales and Profits Exceed Expectations

The SEZ Group (SWX: SEZN) announced that for business year 2000 it has increased its consolidated net sales by 133 percent to CHF 195.2 million, up from CHF 83.7 million in 1999. For the same period of time, the company's operating income (EBIT) improved by 311 percent to CHF 49.4 million, versus CHF 12.0 million in 1999 and net income tripled to CHF 31.8 million from CHF 10.4 million the previous year. The EBIT-margin improved to 25.3 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 1999, with a net profit margin of 16.3 percent versus 12.4 percent the year before. Due to high shipments during the first months and the strong order backlog as well as anticipated orders for 300 mm equipment, SEZ expects its net sales to increase to CHF 290 million in the business year 2001.

2000 was a record year for the SEZ Group. With a sales growth of 133 percent, SEZ was the fastest growing company among the mid-size and large-size semiconductor equipment suppliers. With its unrivalled Spin-Process technology, SEZ is the leading supplier of equipment for backside wafer treatment. SEZ is also a leading player in the fast growing market for equipment to process 300 mm diameter wafers. In the future, SEZ plans to expand its product portfolio outside of its traditional core market for wafer backside treatment by addressing the entire market for wet chemical treatment of wafer surfaces. This market has a total annual investment volume of USD 3 billion.

Net sales for January and February 2001 increased more than 100 percent in comparison to the same period in the previous year from CHF 28.8 million to CHF 58.9 million. As of February 28, 2001 SEZ reported an order backlog of CHF 121.4 million up from CHF 57.4 million during the same period of time last year. After the first two months of 2001, order income was CHF 35.6 million in comparison to CHF 32.6 million in 2000. The book-to-bill-ratio for the period of January 1 to February 28 stood at 0.61. The book-to-bill-ratio reflects the high sales to date this year and the wait-and-see policy of some chip manufacturers within the last few weeks. For the second half of this year SEZ expects a market recovery, especially in the 300 mm market.

The SEZ Group is a leading supplier of wet wafer surface preparation equipment to the global semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company's breakthrough proprietary Spin-Processor technology forms the basis of a broad portfolio of single wafer backside and frontside wafer surface conditioning products for semiconductor chipmakers worldwide. Additionally, the company offers a complete range of wet bench equipment for batch processing. SEZ maintains development, manufacturing, sales, marketing and service operations in Europe, Asia and North America. Registered in Zurich, Switzerland, SEZ Holding AG is listed on the Swiss Exchange under the symbol (SWX: SEZN). SEZ also can be found on the world wide web at www.sez.com