TEMPE, AZ – Amtech Systems reported fiscal fourth quarter net revenue of $28.8 million, down 47.3% year-over-year and 30.1% sequentially.

Compared to the prior year quarter, net revenue decreased primarily due to lower shipments of solar equipment, the firm says.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company posted a net loss of $9 million, compared to net income of $7.3 million in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2017 and net income of $5 million in the preceding quarter.  The net loss is primarily due to a $7 million non-cash impairment in the Solar segment.

Customer orders for the quarter were $40.4 million. As of Sept. 30, Amtech had a backlog of $51.1 million and unrestricted cash of $58.3 million. RD&E expenses were $1.5 million, compared to $1.8 million in the prior year quarter and $2.1 million in the preceding quarter.

For fiscal year 2018, net revenue was $176.4 million. Semi and LED/SiC accounted for $93.9 million, and Solar accounted for $82.5 million. Net income was $5.3 million. Customer orders totaled $132.7 million.

"In fiscal year 2018, we realized progress in all of our businesses, closing the year with record net revenues in our combined semiconductor and LED/SiC businesses,” said J.S. Whang, executive chairman of Amtech. “In solar, we successfully installed Phase I of our large turnkey project and announced orders this quarter of more than $11 million for our N-type systems.

In the fiscal fourth quarter, the firm bought back more than 771,000 shares of common stock, completing a $4 million stock repurchase plan. In November, the board of directors approved an additional $4 million stock repurchase plan.

The company expects revenues for the quarter ending Dec. 31 to be in the range of $27 million to $29 million.