Intevac's equipment unit revenue drops in Q3 2012

Nov 1, 2012 - US vacuum process equipment provider Intevac Inc (NASDAQ:IVAC) on Wednesday said that third-quarter revenue for its equipment unit, fell to USD 7.4 million (EUR 5.7m) from USD 12.4 million a year ago.

The segment offers vacuum process technologies to the solar and electronics markets. The sales decrease resulted from tough economic conditions and lower hard drives demand, the company said.

Gross margin of the equipment division dropped to 35.6% from 44.9% year-on-year due to lower revenues and plant utilisation. Operating loss deepened to USD 10.3 million from USD 5.4 million.

Intevac saw its total net loss widen to USD 8 million from USD 6.1 million the three months ended September 29, with revenues down to USD 16.8 million from USD 19.3 million a year earlier.

In the first nine months of 2012 Intevac narrowed its net loss to USD 12.7 million from USD 15.8 million a year earlier. Revenues rose to USD 65.9 million from USD 64.3 million. Equipment revenues increased to USD 43.2 million from USD 42.3 million, while the segment's gross margin rose to 44.7% from 41.9% on the year.

The company's order backlog at end-September fell to USD 40 million from USD 43.3 million as of June 30.

Intevac recently launched its Lean Solar platform, with applications including deposition, texture etch and ion implant, that boosts the conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.771)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!