Amtech Systems, a production equipment supplier for solar, semiconductor, and LED, met the highest solar bookings over the past five years in the second quarter of fiscal year 2016 ended on March 31, 2016. The company expects growth in solar market in the future.
During the 2QFY16, Amtech Systems received customer orders of US$45 million, in which US$28 million for solar. The high bookings increased quarter-end backlog to US$67.3 million, including US$51.3 million of solar’s. In comparison, customer orders in the preceding quarter was US$35.6 million (US$23.0 million solar), and in 2QFY15 was US$30.9 million (US$16.7 million). Total backlog at December 31, 2015 was US$42.9 million (US$31.3 million solar).
The customer orders are expected to ship within the next 12 months.
“We are positioning for the next wave of growth in solar with expectations to continue to expand our market reach, develop current and new customer relationships, and continue to be recognized as a market leader for our distinguishable technology solutions,” commented Mr. Fokko Pentinga, Chief Executive Officer of Amtech.
The net revenue in 2QFY16 was US$22.5 million and solar business contributed US$9.8 million. Solar business’ book to bill ratio was 3.0:1, higher than 2.1:1 of the whole company.
Amtech’s pre-tax gain on the sale of sales and services rights were US$2.6 million, and net loss of US$1.5 million. Net loss per share was US$0.11. At the end of the quarter, Amtech held US$31.8 million of unrestricted cash.
Gross margin in 2QFY16 was 27%, the same with 27% in 1QFY16 but slightly lower than 28% in 2QFY15. The slightly lower margin was resulted primarily from lower usage of previously reserved inventory in the solar segment and lower sales volumes in the polishing segment.