NXP improves sales, net profit in Q3

PARIS — NXP BV (Eindhoven, The Netherlands) achieved a net profit of $412 million on third quarter sales of $1,034 million. This compares to a net profit of $344 million in the second quarter of 2009 and to a loss of $2,540 million in the third quarter of 2008.

NXP's third quarter sales of $1,034 million were up 19.2 percent on a sequential basis. Such increase in sales was visible across all business segments and regions, the company stated.

Sales, however, declined by 14.7 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

NXP said its adjusted EBITDA amounted to $147 million in the third quarter, the same level as the third quarter of 2008 and up from $89 million in the second quarter of 2009.

NXP stated that adjusted EBITA reached $55 million in the third quarter compared to $15 million in the same period last year and a loss of $18 million in the previous quarter.

NXP said its cash position was $1,061 million at the end of the third quarter compared to $1,373 million at the end of the second quarter of 2009. The lower cash position largely reflects the bond buy back transactions undertaken in the quarter and the cash out as a result of the ongoing restructuring payments for the Redesign Program.

In the third quarter, NXP said it has made progress on the execution of its Redesign Program, initiated in the third quarter of 2008. "The process and product transfer programs related to the redesign of fabs in Hamburg and Nijmegen are on track. The wafer fab in Caen, France, was already sold in June 2009 and the production in Fishkill was stopped midway through July, 2009," NXP explained.

The ongoing program is expected to have restructuring costs of $700 million and to achieve "higher annual savings than the initially projected $550 million by the end of 2010. So far, $361 million of the restructuring costs have been paid, NXP notified.

The outlook remains cautious and visibility beyond the fourth quarter remains limited, the company said. "Although we have recently experienced improvements across all business segments and all regions we are yet to see signs that this represents a fundamental and sustainable improvement of the global semiconductor industry," the company commented.

NXP said it expects a flat to mid single digit sequential sales increase in the fourth quarter of 2009 on a business and currency comparable basis, excluding wafer sales to ST-Ericsson.

In parallel, NXP said it has revamped its management team with the appointments of Kurt Sievers as general manager for the automotive business and Frans Scheper as general manager for the standard products business.