BE Semiconductor beats second-quarter revenue forecasts on higher shipments

(Reuters) - Chipmaking equipment supplier BE Semiconductor (BESI) beat its second-quarter revenue targets on Tuesday, driven by higher-than-anticipated shipments from its order backlog.

Soaring demand from major chip manufacturers like TSMC and Intel, which are expanding production capacity to mitigate a global chip shortage, has largely benefited suppliers to the industry.

"Revenue was significantly above guidance due to higher than anticipated shipments from backlog as Besi managed supply chain issues and pandemic restrictions in various countries", Chief Executive Richard Blickman said in a statement.

The shortfall, which has hit industries from consumer electronics to automaking, was driven by a surge in demand for phones, TVs and games consoles during the pandemic and then a stronger than expected economic rebound.

Revenues for the three months to the end of June rose 57.9% from the previous quarter to 226.1 million euros ($266.8 million), compared with a forecast of 30%-40% growth seen in April. The company credited broad based growth across end-user and geographic areas, particularly for high-end mobile applications, as well as increased shipments.

Delays in shipments impacted revenues in the previous quarter.

The Dutch-based maker of semiconductor assembly and packaging equipment added it expected revenues in the third quarter to fall by 5%-15% from the previous quarter, consistently with seasonal trends.

BESI, whose customers include tech companies, such as Samsung, Sony and Qualcomm, said it also saw gross margins of between 60%-62% and operating expenses to decrease by 5%-10% in the July-September period.

($1 = 0.8475 euros)

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni; Edited by Kim Coghill and Tomasz Janowski)