NXP announces Q4 and full year 2009 results

EINDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS: NXP Semiconductors announced fourth quarter sales of USD 1,130 million, a comparable increase of 8 percent over the third quarter of 2009 (nominal 9.3 percent) and a comparable increase of 12.6 percent over the fourth quarter of 2008. Sales continued to improve across each segment and region, with the exception of the Home business segment.

Full year total sales amounted to $3,843 million versus $5,443 million in 2008. Sales in 2009 were lower by $792 million due to the divestment of our wireless activities in July 2008. The remaining decline in sales was mainly related to the severe global financial crisis and the weak economic environment that affected all business segments in the first half of the year.

Rick Clemmer, Chief Executive Officer of NXP, said: “In the fourth quarter, we saw for the first time in the last 6 quarters, a year on year growth on a comparable basis. We built on the momentum of Q3 and saw continued growth in almost all business segments. This was preceded by a tough first half of the year where the business was significantly impacted by the global economic and financial crisis. The success to date of the accelerated and expanded Redesign Program, the execution of our strategic focus on High Performance Mixed Signal, improvements in our capital structure and our agility to respond to market conditions, sees us enter 2010 with more confidence, better focused and better equipped to win.”

Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $171 million compared with $147 million in the third quarter and USD 41 million in the same period of 2008. This improvement is attributable to higher sales and improved gross margin. The company achieved a gross margin of 38.6 percent, up from 35.8 percent in the previous quarter and 21.6 percent in Q4 2008.

NXP'’s cash position at the end of Q4 2009 was $1,041 million compared with $1,061 million at the end of the third quarter, taking into account payments for Redesign in the fourth quarter of $72 million.

The difference in cash position between the end of Q4 2009 and the end of Q4 2008 ($1,796 million) is mainly explained by the Redesign payments for the full year 2009, which amounted to $385 million and $286 million which was spent on bond buy backs.