EANS-Adhoc: ams AG / ams reports financial results for fiscal year 2012

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ad-hoc disclosure transmitted by euro adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide
distribution. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this
announcement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

annual result/annual report
29.01.2013

Financial information for fiscal year 2012 and fourth quarter 2012

Unterpremstaetten, Austria (29 January 2013) - ams (SIX: AMS), a
leading worldwide manufacturer of high performance analog and sensor
semiconductor solutions recorded strong revenue growth and a
significant increase in profitability in 2012. Key drivers were ams'
expanding market position in solutions for consumer and
communications devices and the company's ongoing success in
industrial, medical and automotive applications. 2012 full year
revenues increased by 41% to a record high of EUR 387.6 million (USD
497.7 million) while the operating profit grew by 97% to an all-time
high of EUR 84.8 million. Revenues for the fourth quarter 2012 were
EUR 97.5 million, up 20% year-on-year and 6% lower
quarter-on-quarter. The gross margin for the fourth quarter,
excluding acquisition-related amortization, rose to 56% while the
operating margin improved to 20% when compared to the previous year.
For 2013, ams expects revenue growth to exceed 10% compared to 2012,
together with faster earnings growth.

Financials

Group revenues for 2012 were EUR 387.6 million (USD 497.7 million),
an increase of 41% from EUR 275.7 million recorded for 2011 and just
above the company's full year guidance of 40% revenue growth. In
constant currency, full year revenues increased by 33% compared to
the previous year. Revenues for the fourth quarter 2012 were EUR 97.5
million, an increase of 20% from the EUR 81.0 million recorded in the
last quarter 2011 (17% in constant currency) and a decrease of 6%
quarter-on-quarter.

Gross margins for the full year 2012 increased to 55%, excluding
acquisition-related amortization, and 52%, including
acquisition-related amortization, from 52% and 51% in 2011,
respectively. This strong increase was driven by improved product
mix, the market success of new products, and manufacturing cost
reductions. Gross margins for the fourth quarter 2012 were 56%,
excluding acquisition-related amortization, and 53%, including
acquisition-related amortization, compared to 53% and 50% in the same
period 2011, respectively.

The result from operations (EBIT) for 2012 was EUR 84.8 million, or
22% of revenues, up 97% from EUR 43.1 million or 16% of revenues in
2011. Investments in research and development amounted to EUR 59.0
million, or 15% of revenues, reflecting increased design efficiency
and strong design-win activity throughout 2012. The EBIT for the
fourth quarter 2012 was EUR 19.6 million, or 20% of revenues, up 37%
from EUR 14.3 million in the fourth quarter 2011.

Net income for 2012 was EUR 81.9 million, up 132% from EUR 35.3
million in 2011. Basic / diluted earnings per share for 2012 were CHF
7.67 / 7.30 or EUR 6.37 / 6.06 (2011: CHF 3.75 / 3.67 or EUR 3.04 /
2.98). Net income for the fourth quarter 2012 was EUR 18.5 million,
up 57% from EUR 11.8 million for the same period 2011. Basic /
diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter were CHF 1.69 /
1.60 or EUR 1.40 / 1.32 (2011: CHF 1.13 / 1.11 or EUR 0.92 / 0.91).

Cash flow from operations increased to EUR 124.8 million in 2012, up
77% from EUR 70.3 million in 2011. Cash and short term investments
stood at EUR 86.8 million on December 31, 2012 compared to EUR 65.0
million at year-end 2011, while net cash was EUR 6.0 million at
year-end 2012 (December 31, 2011: net debt of EUR 52.6 million).
Capital expenditures for 2012 were EUR 31.9 million compared to EUR
17.7 million for 2011. The total backlog at the end of 2012,
excluding consignment stock agreements, was EUR 90.9 million (EUR
90.6 million on September 30, 2012 and EUR 90.0 million on December
31, 2011). The average number of group employees was 1,282 for fiscal
year 2012, compared to 1,193 for the year 2011, and 1,322 for the
fourth quarter 2012. ams' auditor will render its unqualified audit
opinion on fiscal year 2012 dated 31 January 2013.

Based on the company's cash dividend policy stipulating the
distribution of 25% of net earnings, ams management will propose a
dividend of EUR 1.43 per share for 2012.

Business

ams' business showed a strong performance in 2012 extending the
company's leadership in high performance analog semiconductors.
Focused on sensors, sensor interfaces, power management and wireless,
ams continued to expand its market position offering innovative
solutions to customers' analog design challenges. ams' products are
highly successful in applications requiring ultra-low power
consumption, high accuracy, and outstanding analog performance as
they enable OEMs to create more powerful and efficient systems and
devices.

In the Consumer & Communications area, ams recorded strong growth
last year that was particularly driven by the ongoing expansion of
the markets for smartphones and tablet PCs. ams is a major supplier
to leading smartphone, tablet PC and mobile device vendors and was
able to expand its market reach in 2012 with existing and new
accounts. ams sees strong design activities continuing across
consumer product lines as global OEMs turn to ams to support upcoming
devices.

ams strengthened its position as the leading provider of advanced
light sensors last year with an estimated market share of more than
40% worldwide. ams shipped very high volumes of ambient light and
proximity sensors to top-tier device vendors for a wide variety of
major global platforms and models. New RGB color sensing capabilities
increase the differentiation of ams' light sensor portfolio and offer
additional opportunities in the growing smartphone and tablet PC
markets.

The company's MEMS microphone IC business expanded substantially
again in 2012 driven by the need for high quality, low noise audio
input for consumer devices. Shipping more than 1.2 billion units last
year, ams remains the clear market leader in this area while the MEMS
microphone market continues to grow due to smartphone and tablet PC
growth and increasing penetration.

ams successfully launched a new power management solution for a
leading graphics processor vendor in 2012 which offers advanced high
current handling for the next generation of mobile devices including
smartphones, tablet PCs, and clamshell netbooks. ams sees strong
market interest for this vendor's new graphics processor range where
ams' power management solution has been chosen for the processor
reference design. Based on ams' proprietary CMOS process
capabilities, the solution enables high efficiency at a minimized
footprint to support, among others, increased refresh rates for high
resolution display devices.

ams' wireless business for RFID and NFC showed strong growth in 2012
as emerging applications see increasing shipment volumes on their
path to wider acceptance. This includes volume shipments of the
company's innovative antenna booster solution for NFC mobile payment
and reader / tag functionality. In the fourth quarter, ams closed the
acquisition of IDS, a global design leader for highly-integrated,
low-power RFID IC solutions and IP for HF and UHF applications, as
expected. Together with IDS, ams is very strongly positioned in the
fast-growing authentication and payment markets and able to offer the
smallest form factors, the lowest power consumption and the highest
sensitivity. Based on the market success of its solutions, ams
expects to participate in the adoption of NFC mobile payment as a
standard technology for mobile devices.

ams' industrial, medical and automotive business recorded very solid
results for 2012 given the company's broad range of end markets and
despite a mixed development of demand for major product lines. As a
core area for ams, the industrial, medical and automotive business
brings the company's sensor, sensor interface and power management
technologies to a wide variety of applications requiring high analog
performance. Some industrial end markets such as seismic sensors
showed a strong performance in 2012, while important areas in
industrial automation saw a continuing impact from muted end
customer demand across geographies. ams was nevertheless able to
strengthen its market position as a leader in industrial sensors,
position measurement and building control.

In medical applications, ams continued to be very successful last
year with advanced sensor and interface solutions, particularly in
the core area Medical Imaging (computed tomography (CT), digital
X-ray, ultrasound and mammography). The company's breakthrough CT
imaging sensor was again an important driver for the medical
business, confirming ams' technology leadership in CT solutions and
ultra-high accuracy analog signal processing. Long-term in nature,
ams' medical business is built around strategic partnerships with
global leaders in medical device and system technology.

ams' automotive business showed growth in 2012 despite a difficult
demand environment in the second half of the year. ams' market
success continues to be driven by high performance sensor and encoder
solutions, innovative battery power management, and critical safety
systems. The company is seeing solid product run rates for major
system suppliers as sensor and electronics penetration in vehicles
continues to rise. ams enters 2013 with a healthy automotive revenue
pipeline for the coming years, reflecting future platform launches
and 2012 design-wins. ams' specialty foundry activities for a wide
range of customers again provided an attractive contribution to the
company's results.

ams is a leader in advanced 3D packaging technologies which the
company first employed in its innovative sensor solution for CT
imaging. As a consequence, ams is seeing strong interest from leading
smartphone vendors wanting to use these technologies for their
upcoming devices. ams has therefore decided to implement additional
investments in its in-house manufacturing over the course of 2013.
Through the insourcing of packaging process steps, these investments
are expected to result in additional sustainable gross margin gains
for ams as early as the first quarter 2014.

ams' global customer base continued to grow strongly in 2012 in all
major markets, particularly in Asia Pacific. The company's extensive
sales and support network in Asia creates a competitive advantage
allowing ams to win high quality business in the region. Distribution
revenues showed another significant increase worldwide as the
distribution sales channel is becoming an additional driver of growth
for ams.

Outlook

Based on currently available information, ams expects full year
revenue growth for 2013 to exceed 10% compared to 2012, which
reflects growth expectations across end markets. At the same time,
the company anticipates gross margins to increase further and full
year earnings to grow faster than expected 2013 revenues. ams will
update its outlook during the year as more information becomes
available. Business development in the first quarter 2013 is expected
to reflect first quarter end-market seasonality.

Additional financial information on fiscal year 2012 and the fourth
quarter 2012 is available on the company website at
http://www.ams.com/eng/Investor/Financial-Reports

Further inquiry note:
Moritz M. Gmeiner
Director Investor Relations
Tel: +43 3136 500-31211
Fax: +43 3136 500-931211
Email: investor@ams.com

end of announcement euro adhoc
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

issuer: ams AG
Tobelbader Strasse 30
A-8141 Unterpremstaetten
phone: +43 3136 500-0
FAX: +43 3136 500-931211
mail: investor@ams.com
WWW: www.ams.com
sector: Technology
ISIN: AT0000920863
indexes:
stockmarkets: official dealing: SIX Swiss Exchange
language: English