ASML posts record full-year 2014 sales of €5.86 billion

*As of Q4 2014 our net bookings and systems backlog include NXE:3350B orders. For the definition of our net bookings and system backlog see footnote 4 of our US GAAP Consolidated Financial Statements.

A complete summary of US GAAP Consolidated Statements of Operations is published on www.asml.com.

CEO statement

"Our 2014 fourth-quarter net sales came in ahead of guidance, as the memory sector was stronger than we expected. Full-year sales rose 12 percent from 2013 to a record EUR 5.86 billion, gross margin was up almost 3 percentage points to 44.3%, while earnings per share increased by 16% to €2.74 per share. Looking ahead to H1 2015, we expect both our sales to the memory segment and our service and field option business to continue to be strong and sales to the logic segment to increase from H2 2014 to H1 2015, underpinned by the €2.8 billion backlog," ASML president and Chief Executive Officer Peter Wennink said.

"As extensively discussed during our investor day in November, our EUV program in 2015 will focus on continuing the encouraging progress in productivity and in shipping our fourth-generation EUV tools, the NXE:3350B," Wennink said.

2014 product highlights

• We successfully ramped our newest immersion system, the NXT:1970Ci and shipped 51 systems
• Our TWINSCAN immersion systems set new productivity records: two systems each imaged more than 1.5 million wafers in a 12-month period
• A total of seven NXE:3300B EUV systems were in the field by end-2014
• On the NXE:3300B systems we achieved the 500-wafer-per-day target that our customers have set for end-2014 and demonstrated stable source operation at 80 W running continuously for 24 hours at a customer site
• TSMC ordered two NXE:3350B EUV systems for delivery in 2015 with the intention to use those systems in production. In addition, two NXE:3300B systems already delivered to TSMC will be upgraded to NXE:3350B performance.
• The ramp in shipments of our YieldStar metrology tool continued, with a total of 199 systems shipped to all major customers

Outlook

For the first quarter of 2015, ASML expects net sales of around €1.6 billion, a gross margin of around 47%, R&D costs of about €260 million, other income of about €20 million – which consists of contributions from participants of the Customer Co-Investment Program – and SG&A costs of about €83 million.

Dividend and new share buyback program

Given ASML's strong financial position and cash flow prospects, ASML intends to continue to return excess cash to shareholders through dividends and share buyback programs in accordance with our policy, thereby supporting its shareholders in their continued investment in the company.

ASML intends to increase the dividend per ordinary share by 15% compared with last year. Therefore, we will submit a proposal to the 2015 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) to declare a dividend in respect of 2014 of €0.70 per ordinary share (for a total amount of approximately €300 million), compared with a dividend of €0.61 per ordinary share paid in respect of 2013.

ASML also announces a new share buyback program, to be executed within the 2015–2016 time frame. As part of this program, ASML intends to purchase up to €750 million of shares which it intends to cancel upon repurchase. In addition, ASML intends to purchase as part of this program up to 3.3 million shares to cover employee stock and stock option plans. This buyback program will start on January 22, 2015, and at current share price these intended repurchases represent a total value of approximately €1 billion.

The share buyback program will be executed within the limitations of the existing authority granted by the AGM on April 23, 2014, and of the authority granted at future AGMs. The share buyback program may be suspended, modified or discontinued at any time. All transactions under this program will be published on ASML's website on a weekly basis.

Press conference

A press conference hosted by CEO Peter Wennink and CFO Wolfgang Nickl will be held at our office in Veldhoven at 11:00 CET (05:00 ET). An audio webcast of the press conference is available on www.asml.com, along with a presentation and a video statement of CEO Peter Wennink.

Investor and media conference call

A conference call for investors and media will be hosted by CEO Peter Wennink and CFO Wolfgang Nickl at 15:00 CET (09:00 ET). Dial-in numbers are +31 20 716 8295 in the Netherlands and +1 646 254 3388 in the US (no confirmation code needed). Listen-only access is also available via www.asml.com.

2014 Annual Reports

ASML will publish its 2014 Annual Report on Form 20-F, Statutory Annual Report, Corporate Responsibility Report and Remuneration Report on February 11, 2015. The reports will be published on our website at www.asml.com.

Relevant links

• Press Conference webcast
• Conference Call webcast