Management and Board Remarks
Amir Elstein, Chairman of TowerJazz Board of Directors, stated: "Reflecting on 2013, we progressed well in realizing our technical roadmap in prime focus areas. The continued development of feature rich customer aligned platforms provided strong growth in our core businesses and promises a 2014 record organic revenue growth. In view of this and the announced undertaking of majority ownership in a joint venture with Panasonic with the ability to consolidate our Japanese business, we see 2014 as a year of strong top line revenue growth and more significant, one in which we will see a marked move in demonstrating a business model of sustainable GAAP net profit."
Russell Ellwanger, Chief Executive Officer of TowerJazz, commented, “At the end of 2013, we signed a definitive agreement with Panasonic creating a joint venture, of which we will hold 51%, for manufacturing products for both Panasonic and new potential customers in three Panasonic fabs in Japan. We expect this deal to close by April 2014. This joint venture enhances an already diversified customer offering with additional high end platforms and new 300 mm capabilities.
"In 2013 we achieved sequential quarterly revenue growth and in the fourth quarter realized a year over year 25 percent organic growth. Over 16,000 new masks entered our factories in 2013, representing year over year increase of 25 percent, giving a base of confidence for 2014 strong customer forecasts. In view of our organic growth and the Panasonic joint venture, we expect to break $900 million revenue annual run rate starting the second quarter and to continue and surpass the $1 billion revenue run rate with sustainable GAAP net profit.
"The recent Indian government announcement regarding Cabinet approval of our consortium activities in India with Jaypee and IBM are as well encouraging. To summarize, the Panasonic joint venture, India project Cabinet approval, and other previously announced specialty annex capabilities combined with forecasted strong core business, provide devout momentum entering into this year that will carry over for the foreseeable years to come."
Teleconference and Webcast
TowerJazz will host an investor conference call today, February 27, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time (9:00 a.m. Central time, 8:00 a.m. Mountain time, 7:00 a.m. Pacific time and 5:00 p.m. Israel time) to discuss the company’s financial results for the 2013 fourth quarter and fiscal year and its first quarter 2014 business outlook.
This call will be webcast and can be accessed via TowerJazz’s website at www.towerjazz.com, or by calling: 1-888-407-2553 (U.S. Toll-Free), 03-918-0610 (Israel), +972-3-918-0610 (International) The webcast is available to both institutional and individual investors. Individual investors can listen to the call at www.earnings.com. Institutional investors can access the call via the password-protected event management site ( www.streetevents.com). For those who are not available to listen to the live broadcast, the call will be archived for 90 days.
As previously announced, beginning with the first quarter of 2007, the Company has been presenting its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. This release, including the financial tables below, presents other financial information that may be considered "non-GAAP financial measures" under Regulation G and related reporting requirements promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission as they apply to our company. These non-GAAP financial measures exclude (1) depreciation and amortization, (2) compensation expenses in respect of options granted to directors, officers and employees, (3) reorganization costs, (4) amortization related to a lease agreement early termination, (5) financing expenses, net other than interest accrued, such that non-GAAP interest expenses and other financial expenses, net include only interest accrued during the reported period, whether paid or payable and (6) income tax expense, such that non-GAAP income tax expense include only taxes paid during the reported period. Non-GAAP financial measures should be evaluated in conjunction with, and are not a substitute for, GAAP financial measures. The tables also present the GAAP financial measures, which are most comparable to the non-GAAP financial measures as well as reconciliation between the non-GAAP financial measures and the most comparable GAAP financial measures. As applied in this release, the term Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) consists of loss, according to U.S. GAAP, excluding amortization related to a lease agreement early termination, reorganization costs, interest and financing expenses (net), tax, depreciation and amortization and stock based compensation expenses. EBITDA is not a required GAAP financial measure and may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure employed by other companies. EBITDA and the non-GAAP financial information presented herein should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for operating income, net income or loss, cash flows provided by operating, investing and financing activities, per share data or other income or cash flow statement data prepared in accordance with GAAP and is not necessarily consistent with the non-GAAP data presented in previous filings.
About TowerJazz
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. and its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary Jazz
Semiconductor Inc. and its wholly owned Japanese subsidiary TowerJazz
Japan, Ltd., operate collectively under the brand name TowerJazz, a
global specialty foundry leader. TowerJazz manufactures integrated
circuits, offering a broad range of customizable process technologies
including: SiGe, BiCMOS, Mixed-Signal/CMOS, RFCMOS, CMOS Image Sensor,
Power Management (BCD), and MEMS capabilities. TowerJazz also offers
clients a world-class design enablement platform, providing a quick and
accurate design cycle. In addition, TowerJazz provides (TOPS) Technology
Optimization Process Services to IDMs and fabless companies that need to
expand capacity. TowerJazz offers multi-fab sourcing with two
manufacturing facilities located in Israel, one in the United States and
one in Japan. Additional information is available at
www.towerjazz.com .