Amkor Technology Reports Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2018

Business Wire 11-Feb-2019 4:08 PM

Fourth Quarter 2018 Highlights:

• Fourth quarter net sales $1,081 million
• Net income $28 million, earnings per diluted share $0.12
• Gross margin 16.9%

Full Year 2018 Highlights:

• Record sales $4.3 billion, 3% year-on-year growth
• Net income $127 million, earnings per diluted share $0.53
• EBITDA $837 million
• Net cash from operations $663 million and free cash flow $120 million
• Fourth consecutive year of positive free cash flow

Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR), a leading provider of semiconductor packaging and test services, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2018.

"Both revenue and earnings were stronger than expected in the fourth quarter," said Steve Kelley, Amkor's president and chief executive officer. "For full year 2018, sales increased 3% year over year to a record $4.3 billion. Broad customer engagement across multiple end markets drove our balanced growth."

"Favorable product mix resulted in profitability that was above expectations for the quarter," said Megan Faust, Amkor's corporate vice president and chief financial officer. "We delivered $120 million of free cash flow in 2018, our fourth consecutive year of positive free cash flow. As a result, we ended the year with over $1 billion in liquidity, including $682 million of cash on hand."

(1) Q4 2018 net income includes a $17 million discrete income tax charge, or $0.07 per diluted share, driven by finalizing the accounting for U.S. tax reform. Q4 2017 net income includes a $42 million discrete income tax benefit, or $0.17 per diluted share, due to the estimated impact of U.S. tax reform. Full year 2017 net income also includes an after-tax gain of $82 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, from the sale of our K1 factory in Korea.

(2) EBITDA and free cash flow are non-GAAP measures. The reconciliations to the comparable GAAP measures are included below under "Selected Operating Data."

Cash and cash equivalents were $682 million, and total debt was $1.3 billion, at December 31, 2018.

Business Outlook

"We expect first quarter 2019 revenues to be around $880 million. Our first quarter revenue guidance reflects the inventory correction currently underway in the smartphone market," said Kelley.

First quarter 2019 outlook (unless otherwise noted):

• Net sales of $840 million to $920 million
• Gross margin of 9% to 13%
• Net loss of $64 million to $16 million, or ($0.27) to ($0.07) per diluted share
• Full year 2019 capital expenditures of around $475 million

Conference Call Information

Amkor will conduct a conference call on Monday, February 11, 2019, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. This call may include material information not included in this press release. This call is being webcast and can be accessed at Amkor's website: www.amkor.com. You may also access the call by dialing 1-877-645-6380 or 1-404-991-3911. A replay of the call will be made available at Amkor's website or by dialing 1-855-859-2056 or 1-404-537-3406 (conference ID 8157559). The webcast is also being distributed over NASDAQ OMX's investor distribution network to both institutional and individual investors. Institutional investors can access the call via NASDAQ OMX's password-protected event management site, Street Events (www.streetevents.com).

About Amkor

Amkor Technology, Inc. is one of the world's largest providers of outsourced semiconductor packaging and test services. Founded in 1968, Amkor pioneered the outsourcing of IC packaging and test, and is now a strategic manufacturing partner for more than 250 of the world's leading semiconductor companies, foundries and electronics OEMs. Amkor's operational base includes production facilities, product development centers and sales and support offices located in key electronics manufacturing regions in Asia, Europe and the USA. For more information visit www.amkor.com.

AMKOR TECHNOLOGY, INC.Selected Operating Data

In the press release above we provide EBITDA, which is not defined by U.S. GAAP. We define EBITDA as net income before interest expense, income tax expense and depreciation and amortization. We believe EBITDA to be relevant and useful information to our investors because it provides additional information in assessing our financial operating results. Our management uses EBITDA in evaluating our operating performance, our ability to service debt and our ability to fund capital expenditures. However, EBITDA has certain limitations in that it does not reflect the impact of certain expenses on our consolidated statements of income, including interest expense, which is a necessary element of our costs because we have borrowed money in order to finance our operations, income tax expense, which is a necessary element of our costs because taxes are imposed by law, and depreciation and amortization, which is a necessary element of our costs because we use capital assets to generate income. EBITDA should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, operating income, net income or other measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Furthermore our definition of EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. Below is our reconciliation of EBITDA to U.S. GAAP net income.

In the press release above we refer to free cash flow, which is not defined by U.S. GAAP. We define free cash flow as net cash provided by operating activities less payments for property, plant and equipment, plus proceeds from the sale of and insurance recovery for property, plant and equipment, if applicable. We believe free cash flow to be relevant and useful information to our investors because it provides them with additional information in assessing our liquidity, capital resources and financial operating results. Our management uses free cash flow in evaluating our liquidity, our ability to service debt and our ability to fund capital expenditures. However, free cash flow has certain limitations, including that it does not represent the residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures since other, non-discretionary expenditures, such as mandatory debt service, are not deducted from the measure. The amount of mandatory versus discretionary expenditures can vary significantly between periods. This measure should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, other measures of liquidity or financial performance prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP, such as net cash provided by operating activities. Furthermore, our definition of free cash flow may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. Below is our reconciliation of free cash flow to U.S. GAAP net cash provided by operating activities.

Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical fact are considered forward-looking statements including all of the statements made under "Business Outlook" above. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could affect future results and cause actual results and events to differ materially from historical and expected results and those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following:

• the highly unpredictable nature, cyclicality, and rate of growth of the semiconductor industry;
• timing and volume of orders relative to production capacity and the inability to achieve high capacity utilization rates, control costs and improve profitability;
• laws, rules, regulations and policies imposed by the U.S. or foreign governments in areas such as tariffs, customs, duties and other restrictive trade barriers, national security, data privacy and cybersecurity, antitrust and competition, tax, currency and banking, privacy, labor, environmental, health and safety, and in particular the recent increase in protectionist measures considered or adopted by the U.S. and foreign governments;
• laws, rules, regulations and policies within China and other countries that may favor domestic companies over non-domestic companies, including customer or government supported efforts to promote the development and growth of local competitors;
• volatility of consumer demand, double booking by customers and deterioration in forecasts from our customers for products incorporating our semiconductor packages, including any slowdown in demand or changes in customer forecasts for smartphones or other mobile devices and generally soft end market demand for electronic devices;
• delays, lower manufacturing yields and supply constraints relating to wafers, particularly for advanced nodes and related technologies;
• dependence on key customers, the impact of changes in our market share and prices for our services with those customers and the business and financial condition of those customers;
• the performance of our business, interest rate fluctuations and other economic and market conditions, the cash needs and investment opportunities for the business, the need for additional capacity and facilities to service customer demand and the availability of cash flow from operations or financing;
• the effect of the global economy on credit markets, financial institutions, customers, suppliers and consumers, including the uncertain macroeconomic environment;
• the highly unpredictable nature and costs of litigation and other legal activities and the risk of adverse results of such matters and the impact of other legal proceedings;
• changes in tax rates and taxes as a result of changes in U.S. or foreign tax law or the interpretations thereof (including the impact of recent U.S. tax reform), changes in our organizational structure, changes in the jurisdictions in which our income is determined to be earned and taxed, the outcome of tax reviews, audits and ruling requests, our ability to realize deferred tax assets and the expiration of tax holidays;
• curtailment of outsourcing by our customers;
• our substantial indebtedness and restrictive covenants;
• failure to realize sufficient cash flow or access to other sources of liquidity to fund capital expenditures;
• the effects of an economic slowdown in major economies worldwide;
• disruptions in our business or deficiencies in our controls resulting from the integration of acquired operations, particularly J-Devices, or the implementation and security of, and changes to, our enterprise resource planning, factory shop floor systems and other management information systems;
• there can be no assurance regarding when our new K5 factory and research and development center in Korea will be fully utilized, or that the actual scope, costs, timeline or benefits of the project will be consistent with our current expectations;
• economic effects of terrorist attacks, political instability, natural disasters and military conflict;
• competition, competitive pricing and declines in average selling prices;
• fluctuations in packaging and test manufacturing yields;
• dependence on international operations and sales, and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, particularly in Japan and Korea;
• dependence on raw material and equipment suppliers and changes in raw material and precious metal costs;
• dependence on key personnel;
• enforcement of and compliance with intellectual property rights; and
• technological challenges.

Other important risk factors that could affect the outcome of the events set forth in these statements and that could affect our operating results and financial condition are discussed in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 and in the company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission made prior to or after the date hereof. Amkor undertakes no obligation to review or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190211005715/en/