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ams AG

EANS-Adhoc: ams AG
ams reports financial results for fiscal year 2012

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  ad-hoc disclosure transmitted by euro adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide
  distribution. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this
  announcement.
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annual result/annual report
29.01.2013


Financial information for fiscal year 2012 and fourth quarter 2012

Unterpremstaetten, Austria (29 January 2013) - ams (SIX: AMS), a leading
worldwide manufacturer of high performance analog and sensor semiconductor
solutions recorded strong revenue growth and a significant increase in
profitability in 2012.  Key drivers were ams' expanding market position in
solutions for consumer and communications devices and the company's ongoing
success in industrial, medical and automotive applications.  2012 full year
revenues increased by 41% to a record high of EUR 387.6 million (USD 497.7
million) while the operating profit grew by 97% to an all-time high of EUR 84.8
million. Revenues for the fourth quarter 2012 were EUR 97.5 million, up 20%
year-on-year and 6% lower quarter-on-quarter. The gross margin for the fourth
quarter, excluding acquisition-related amortization, rose to 56% while the
operating margin improved to 20% when compared to the previous year. For 2013,
ams expects revenue growth to exceed 10% compared to 2012, together with faster
earnings growth.

Financials

Group revenues for 2012 were EUR 387.6 million (USD 497.7 million), an increase
of 41% from EUR 275.7 million recorded for 2011 and just above the company's
full year guidance of 40% revenue growth. In constant currency, full year
revenues increased by 33% compared to the previous year. Revenues for the fourth
quarter 2012 were EUR 97.5 million, an increase of 20% from the EUR 81.0 million
recorded in the last quarter 2011 (17% in constant currency) and a decrease of
6% quarter-on-quarter.

Gross margins for the full year 2012 increased to 55%, excluding
acquisition-related amortization, and 52%, including acquisition-related
amortization, from 52% and 51% in 2011, respectively. This strong increase was
driven by improved product mix, the market success of new products, and
manufacturing cost reductions. Gross margins for the fourth quarter 2012 were
56%, excluding acquisition-related amortization, and 53%, including
acquisition-related amortization, compared to 53% and 50% in the same period
2011, respectively.

The result from operations (EBIT) for 2012 was EUR 84.8 million, or 22% of
revenues, up 97% from EUR 43.1 million or 16% of revenues in 2011. Investments
in research and development amounted to EUR 59.0 million, or 15% of revenues,
reflecting increased design efficiency and strong design-win activity throughout
2012. The EBIT for the fourth quarter 2012 was EUR 19.6 million, or 20% of
revenues, up 37% from EUR 14.3 million in the fourth quarter 2011. 

Net income for 2012 was EUR 81.9 million, up 132% from EUR 35.3 million in 2011.
Basic / diluted earnings per share for 2012 were CHF 7.67 / 7.30 or EUR 6.37 /
6.06 (2011: CHF 3.75 / 3.67 or EUR 3.04 / 2.98). Net income for the fourth
quarter 2012 was EUR 18.5 million, up 57% from EUR 11.8 million for the same
period 2011. Basic / diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter were CHF
1.69 / 1.60 or EUR 1.40 / 1.32 (2011: CHF 1.13 / 1.11 or EUR 0.92 / 0.91).

Cash flow from operations increased to EUR 124.8 million in 2012, up 77% from
EUR 70.3 million in 2011. Cash and short term investments stood at EUR 86.8
million on December 31, 2012 compared to EUR 65.0 million at year-end 2011,
while net cash was EUR 6.0 million at year-end 2012 (December 31, 2011: net debt
of EUR 52.6 million). Capital expenditures for 2012 were EUR 31.9 million
compared to EUR 17.7 million for 2011. The total backlog at the end of 2012,
excluding consignment stock agreements, was EUR 90.9 million (EUR 90.6 million
on September 30, 2012 and EUR 90.0 million on December 31, 2011). The average
number of group employees was 1,282 for fiscal year 2012, compared to 1,193 for
the year 2011, and 1,322 for the fourth quarter 2012. ams' auditor will render
its unqualified audit opinion on fiscal year 2012 dated 31 January 2013.

Based on the company's cash dividend policy stipulating the distribution of 25%
of net earnings, ams management will propose a dividend of EUR 1.43 per share
for 2012.

Business

ams' business showed a strong performance in 2012 extending the company's
leadership in high performance analog semiconductors.  Focused on sensors,
sensor interfaces, power management and wireless, ams continued to expand its
market position offering innovative solutions to customers' analog design
challenges. ams' products are highly successful in applications requiring
ultra-low power consumption, high accuracy, and outstanding analog performance
as they enable OEMs to create more powerful and efficient systems and devices.

In the Consumer & Communications area, ams recorded strong growth last year that
was particularly driven by the ongoing expansion of the markets for smartphones
and tablet PCs. ams is a major supplier to leading smartphone, tablet PC and
mobile device vendors and was able to expand its market reach in 2012 with
existing and new accounts. ams sees strong design activities continuing across
consumer product lines as global OEMs turn to ams to support upcoming devices.

ams strengthened its position as the leading provider of advanced light sensors
last year with an estimated market share of more than 40% worldwide. ams shipped
very high volumes of ambient light and proximity sensors to top-tier device
vendors for a wide variety of major global platforms and models. New RGB color
sensing capabilities increase the differentiation of ams' light sensor portfolio
and offer additional opportunities in the growing smartphone and tablet PC
markets.

The company's MEMS microphone IC business expanded substantially again in 2012
driven by the need for high quality, low noise audio input for consumer devices.
Shipping more than 1.2 billion units last year, ams remains the clear market
leader in this area while the MEMS microphone market continues to grow due to
smartphone and tablet PC growth and increasing penetration.

ams successfully launched a new power management solution for a leading graphics
processor vendor in 2012 which offers advanced high current handling for the
next generation of mobile devices including smartphones, tablet PCs, and
clamshell netbooks. ams sees strong market interest for this vendor's new
graphics processor range where ams' power management solution has been chosen
for the processor reference design.  Based on ams' proprietary CMOS process
capabilities, the solution enables high efficiency at a minimized footprint to
support, among others, increased refresh rates for high resolution display
devices.

ams' wireless business for RFID and NFC showed strong growth in 2012 as emerging
applications see increasing shipment volumes on their path to wider acceptance.
This includes volume shipments of the company's innovative antenna booster
solution for NFC mobile payment and reader / tag functionality. In the fourth
quarter, ams closed the acquisition of IDS, a global design leader for
highly-integrated, low-power RFID IC solutions and IP for HF and UHF
applications, as expected. Together with IDS, ams is very strongly positioned in
the fast-growing authentication and payment markets and able to offer the
smallest form factors, the lowest power consumption and the highest sensitivity.
Based on the market success of its solutions, ams expects to participate in the
adoption of NFC mobile payment as a standard technology for mobile devices.

ams' industrial, medical and automotive business recorded very solid results for
2012 given the company's broad range of end markets and despite a mixed
development of demand for major product lines.  As a core area for ams, the
industrial, medical and automotive business brings the company's sensor, sensor
interface and power management technologies to a wide variety of applications
requiring high analog performance. Some industrial end markets such as seismic
sensors showed a strong performance in 2012, while important areas in industrial
automation saw a conti­nuing impact from muted end customer demand across
geographies. ams was nevertheless able to strengthen its market position as a
leader in industrial sensors, position measurement and building control.

In medical applications, ams continued to be very successful last year with
advanced sensor and interface solutions, particularly in the core area Medical
Imaging (computed tomography (CT), digital X-ray, ultrasound and mammography).
The company's breakthrough CT imaging sensor was again an important driver for
the medical business, confirming ams' technology leadership in CT solutions and
ultra-high accuracy analog signal processing. Long-term in nature, ams' medical
business is built around strategic partnerships with global leaders in medical
device and system technology.

ams' automotive business showed growth in 2012 despite a difficult demand
environment in the second half of the year. ams' market success continues to be
driven by high performance sensor and encoder solutions, innovative battery
power management, and critical safety systems. The company is seeing solid
product run rates for major system suppliers as sensor and electronics
penetration in vehicles continues to rise. ams enters 2013 with a healthy
automotive revenue pipeline for the coming years, reflecting future platform
launches and 2012 design-wins. ams' specialty foundry activities for a wide
range of customers again provided an attractive contribution to the company's
results.

ams is a leader in advanced 3D packaging technologies which the company first
employed in its innovative sensor solution for CT imaging. As a consequence, ams
is seeing strong interest from leading smartphone vendors wanting to use these
technologies for their upcoming devices.  ams has therefore decided to implement
additional investments in its in-house manufacturing over the course of 2013.
Through the insourcing of packaging process steps, these investments are
expect­ed to result in additional sustainable gross margin gains for ams as
early as the first quarter 2014.

ams' global customer base continued to grow strongly in 2012 in all major
markets, particularly in Asia Pacific. The company's extensive sales and support
network in Asia creates a competitive advantage allowing ams to win high quality
business in the region. Distribution revenues showed another significant
increase worldwide as the distribution sales channel is becoming an additional
driver of growth for ams.

Outlook

Based on currently available information, ams expects full year revenue growth
for 2013 to exceed 10% compared to 2012, which reflects growth expectations
across end markets. At the same time, the company anticipates gross margins to
increase further and full year earnings to grow faster than expected 2013
revenues. ams will update its outlook during the year as more information
becomes available. Business development in the first quarter 2013 is expected to
reflect first quarter end-market seasonality.

Additional financial information on fiscal year 2012 and the fourth quarter 2012
is available on the company website at
http://www.ams.com/eng/Investor/Financial-Reports


Further inquiry note:
Moritz M. Gmeiner
Director Investor Relations
Tel: +43 3136 500-31211
Fax: +43 3136 500-931211
Email:  investor@ams.com

end of announcement                               euro adhoc 
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issuer:      ams AG
             Tobelbader Strasse   30
             A-8141 Unterpremstaetten
phone:       +43 3136 500-0
FAX:         +43 3136 500-931211
mail:         investor@ams.com
WWW:      www.ams.com
sector:      Technology
ISIN:        AT0000920863
indexes:     
stockmarkets: official dealing: SIX Swiss Exchange 
language:   English

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