ASML Holdings NV, a key supplier of equipment to computer chip makers such as Intel and Samsung, yesterday posted its third consecutive quarterly loss because of weak sales.
The company said that although sales remained depressed, it expects them to improve in coming quarters.
The order backlog had recovered slightly, ASML said, as customer spending returned to more normal levels after the most acute phase of the global economic downturn.
The company’s net loss was 104 million euros (US$145.51 million), compared with a loss of 117 million euros in the same period a year ago.
Sales were 277 million euros, down sharply from 844 million euros.
“We closed the second quarter with weak but better than anticipated sales ... in this very difficult market environment, similar to that of the first quarter of the year when our customers virtually froze their capital purchases,” chief executive Eric Meurice said in a statement.
He said that ASML had received new orders worth more than 390 million euros during the quarter, “signaling a return to a more typical rate of ... investments” by customers.
He forecast sales of 450 million euros in the third quarter. At that level ASML would be break even.
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