- 27 April 2006 -

Cree scores another revenue record

Cree Inc. has announced revenues of $107,704,000 for its third quarter fiscal year 2006, ending March 26, 2006, a 12% increase over the comparable year-ago period revenue from continuing operations of $95,754,000, and a 2% increase sequentially. Net income, including a loss from discontinued operations for Q3, was $24,000,000, compared to $20,683,000 as reported Q3-05.

In the Q3-06 period, net income included a tax benefit related to investment in Color Kinetics and a prior year tax adjustment. Q3 2006 results also include stock compensation expense of $2,367,000, net of tax due to new accounting requirements that became effective for fiscal year 2006.

"The third quarter was another strong quarter for Cree as we delivered record revenue from continuing operations and solid earnings. We are particularly pleased with the success of our XLamp products, which grew nicely in Q3, offsetting the seasonality in LED chip sales," said Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO.

However, in the conference call, he revealed that they had been somewhat surprised by the sudden upsurge in demand for LED products from the cellphone sector, which had only appeared in the last month or so.

Looking ahead he added that the fourth quarter will be "a transition quarter for Cree as we start production of our high power products in our new Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, fab, which will add some additional operational expenses as well as one-time costs associated with the move. The combination of these investments and those we are making in R&D should put Cree in a strong position to grow our new products businesses."

Web: http://www.cree.com