Full Year 2023 Results

Cardiff, UK

10 April 2024

Strategic progress in a challenging market with a return to growth in H2

IQE plc (AIM: IQE, "IQE" or the "Group"), the leading global supplier of compound semiconductor wafer products and advanced material solutions, today announces its results for the full year ended 31 December 2023.

Americo Lemos, Chief Executive Officer of IQE, commented:

“I am pleased with the resilience of the business and dedication of our people despite 2023 being a particularly challenging year for the semiconductor industry. As forecast, IQE returned to double digit growth in H2 over H1, and additionally took strategic actions to reshape our cost base as part of our ongoing commitment to improving margins and profitability. We made good progress against our diversification strategy following our investment into GaN capacity, with new customer design wins in the Power Electronics and Automotive sectors. Buoyed by the ongoing industry recovery, IQE is well positioned within the global value chain to deliver sustainable growth and capture opportunities in 2024 and beyond.”

FY 2023 Financial Summary

_{1 Adjusted EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and certain non-cash charges, non-operational items and significant infrequent items set out in Note 4 in the financial statements section.
2 Figure includes a £62.7m non-cash goodwill impairment.
3 Cash capital expenditure stated is Property, Plant and Equipment cash capex.
4 Adjusted net debt is calculated as cash less borrowings but excluding lease liabilities and fair value gains/losses on derivative instruments.}

H1 vs H2 2023 Financial Summary

The table below illustrates the significant recovery that IQE experienced in H2 2023.

Strategic Highlights

IQE is making strategic progress to maintain and grow its position in the Connect and Sense markets alongside diversifying into higher growth Power and Display markets.

Business update:

• Connect
  • Protected existing Wireless business whilst expanding the Connect customer base, engaging Tier 1 OEMs in Asia serving the Android ecosystem.
  • Successful qualification of products for WiFi and 4G & 5G handset applications for emerging markets.
  • Launched new VCSEL capability for high-speed optical interconnects used in Artifical Intelligence (AI) datacentre applications.
• Sense
  • High volume production ramp of new VCSEL for advanced 3D Sensing applications with Tier 1 handset manufacturer
  • Successfully qualified second-generation VCSEL products with consumer smartphone leaders, developing new high-performance 3D sensors.
  • Expanded 3D sensing portfolio to include new longer-wavelength products for higher-performance imaging applications in handset and AR/VR platforms.
• Power
  • Deployed GaN Power capacity in the US and UK to serve the global Power Electronics market utilising proceeds from the Placing in May 2023
  • Expansion of diverse customer pipeline, consisting of market leaders across fabless, foundries and OEMs serving Automotive and emerging datacentre server power markets, with qualifications ongoing.

• Display
  • Continued development of RGB microLED portfolio through engagement with multiple Tier 1 Display manufacturers.
  • Developed new disruptive 8-inch Ge based platform for use as a red emitter in microLED displays.
  • Delivery of the first display grade 8-inch GaAs and Si-based wafer products will commence in H1 2024, complementing engagements with customers developing AR/VR format displays.

Board Update

Jutta Meier joined the Board as Chief Financial Officer in January 2024. The Board also continued to refresh its industry expertise with Bami Bastani and Maria Marced joining as Non-executive Directors during the year, following the retirement of Sir Derek Jones. All three bring a wealth of experience from international semiconductor industry heavyweights including Intel, GlobalFoundries and TSMC. Harmesh Suniara was another addition to the Board during the year representing Lombard Odier, a major IQE shareholder, and adding significant capital markets experience. Female representation on the Board now stands at an above-average 44%.

Senior Management Update

IQE’s Executive Leadership Team was strengthened with the appointment of key individuals with significant industry experience in 2023. Peter Rabbeni was appointed as Senior Vice President, Communications Infrastructure & Security. He was joined in January 2024 by Rina Pal-Goetzen as Vice President of Government Affairs, focusing on engagement with the US Government, specifically in regards to CHIPS Act funding.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) update

2023 was a year of progress for IQE’s ESG strategy. The Company is developing frameworks and processes to adopt and align with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and will publish its first TCFD Statement in its 2023 Annual Report. IQE is also focused on developing emissions targets in accordance with the Science Base Targets initiative (SBTi), and is on track to submit targets within the 24 month commitment window.

Current trading and outlook

There are increasingly positive signs that the global semiconductor industry is recovering from what has been an unprecedented cyclical downturn in terms of both its extent and duration. IQE saw recovery in H2 2023 which has continued into Q1 2024, with inventory levels beginning to normalise and customer demand recovering.

Trading during Q1 has been in line with the Board’s expectations and the order book for the remainder of H1 is strengthening. We expect to see this improvement continue through 2024, despite persisting uncertainties in the global economy.

The Group has taken steps to optimise its cost base and will continue to drive efficiencies in order to improve margins and profitability. Efforts to enhance the Company’s global footprint are ongoing with a focus on refining operations whilst maintaining a global footprint that offers customers a secure and resilient supply chain.

Revenue and adjusted EBITDA are expected to be within the range of analyst forecasts for FY 2024¹.

The Group remains committed to executing its growth and diversification strategy as it builds on the good progress made in 2023 by expanding the customer pipeline and focusing on GaN power product qualification with Tier 1 suppliers into automotive OEMs.

^{1 The analyst range of expectations for FY 2024 revenue are from £133.7m to £153.7m and for adjusted EBITDA from £11.1m to £16.6m.}

FY 2023 Financial Highlights

• Revenue for FY 2023 decreased 31% to £115.3m (FY 2022: £167.5m).
  • Wireless revenue of £53.9m (FY 2022: £76.0m) was down 29% year-on-year on a reported basis. This was a result of high inventory levels in the market and delays to 5G infrastructure deployment.
  • Photonics revenue of £59.1m (FY 2022: £88.7m) was down 33% year-on-year on a reported basis. This decrease reflects the slowdown in Asian telecom infrastructure programmes, as well as high inventory levels due to weak demand impacting 3D sensing, partially offset by a resilient infrared and Aerospace and Security performance.
  • CMOS++ revenue of £2.3m (FY 2022: £2.8m) was down 18% on a reported basis. This reflected elevated inventory levels caused by weak demand for consumer goods.
• Adjusted EBITDA of £4.3m (FY 2022: £23.4m), a decline of 81% on a reported basis, due to underutilisation of manufacturing capacity.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin of 4% (FY 2022: 14%). Positive EBITDA margin maintained following decisive action to reduce costs.
• Reported operating loss of £25.8m (FY 2022: £73.0m loss including £62.7m non-cash goodwill impairment) impacted by a reduction in sales volumes and underutilisation of manufacturing capacity.
• Reported net cashflow from operations of £10.1m (FY 2022: £8.9m), resulting from controlled working capital management.
• Cash capital expenditure (PP&E) of £12.2m (FY 2022: £9.4m) to support the Group’s strategic diversification and growth strategy. The Group has a continued focus on research and development with investment in capitalised technology development of £2.8m (FY 2022: £3.8m).
• Adjusted net debt of £(2.2)m as at 31 December 2023 (FY 2022: net debt of £15.2m). Successful refinancing in May 2023 including a new Revolving Credit Facility of $35m (£27.3m), with an undrawn balance of $30.0m (£23.4m) available to the Group as at the year end.
• Equity raise of £29.8m (net proceeds) completed in May 2023 in order to strengthen the balance sheet and underpin strategic investment.
• Cost control and cash generation
  • Headcount restructuring in 2023 resulting in over 10% reduction
  • Asset optimisation
  • Non-labour cost reduction
  • Working capital optimisation
  • Sale of excess tools resulting from site consolidation.
• Global site optimisation programme
  • Completed the consolidation of Pennsylvania MBE operations into North Carolina site with customer qualifications complete and production ramped.
  • Continue to work with our key customers to optimise global footprint.

Results Presentation

IQE will present its FY 2023 Results via webcast at 9:00am today, Wednesday 10 April 2024. If you would like to view this webcast, please register by using the below link and following the instructions:

https://brrmedia.news/IQE_FY23

Contacts

IQE plc
+44 (0) 29 2083 9400
Americo Lemos
Jutta Meier
Amy Barlow

Peel Hunt (Nomad and Joint Broker)
+44 (0) 20 7418 8900
Paul Gillam
Kate Bannatyne
Adam Telling

Deutsche Numis (Joint Broker)
+44 (0) 20 7260 1000
Simon Willis
Hugo Rubinstein
Iqra Amin 

Headland Consultancy (Financial PR)
+ 44 (0) 20 38054822
Andy Rivett-Carnac: +44 (0) 7968 997 365
Chloe Francklin: +44 (0)78 3497 4624

ABOUT IQE

http://iqep.com

IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced compound semiconductor wafers and materials solutions that enable a diverse range of applications across:

• Smart Connected Devices
• Communications Infrastructure
• Automotive and Industrial
• Aerospace and Security

As a scaled global epitaxy wafer manufacturer, IQE is uniquely positioned in this market which has high barriers to entry. IQE supplies the global market and is enabling customers to innovate at chip and OEM level. By leveraging the Group’s intellectual property portfolio including know-how and patents, it produces epitaxy wafers of superior quality, yield and unit economics.

IQE is headquartered in Cardiff UK, with employees across eight manufacturing locations in the UK, US and Taiwan, and is listed on the AIM Stock Exchange in London.