Ichor Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ICHR), a leader in the design, engineering, and manufacturing of critical fluid delivery subsystems and components for semiconductor capital equipment, today announced first quarter 2023 financial results.

First quarter 2023 highlights:

• Revenues of $226 million, at the mid-point of our guidance range communicated in February;
• Gross margin of 14.7% on a GAAP basis and 15.5% on a non‑GAAP basis; and
• Earnings per share of $0.00 on a GAAP basis and $0.38 on a non-GAAP basis.

“We are pleased to report that first quarter results were aligned with our expectations going into the quarter,” commented Jeff Andreson, chief executive officer. “With revenues of $226 million right around the midpoint of guidance, gross margin was at the lower end of the range due to the less favorable mix of revenues during the quarter. However, we closely managed operating expenses toward the lower end of forecast, and our operating margin was consistent with our expectations at this revenue level. Non-GAAP EPS was higher than forecast due to the change in geographic mix of profits expected through the year, which resulted in a net tax benefit.

“As our June quarter outlook indicates, the near-term demand environment has become increasingly challenging. To date in 2023, the industry has witnessed additional weakness, primarily from the memory market, as well as a softening outlook for leading-edge logic. As a result, our revenue decline for the second quarter is greater than what we were expecting a quarter ago. Fortunately, with our current visibility, we expect our revenues to be sequentially higher as we progress through the second half.” Mr. Andreson concluded, “During this time, we will continue to focus on driving share gains for our proprietary products and make investments in new offerings that support our customers’ long-term technology roadmaps, until the demand environment improves – which it inevitably will.”

For the first quarter of 2023, revenue was $225.9 million, net loss was $0.0 million, and net loss per basic and diluted share (“diluted EPS”) was $0.00. This compares to revenue of $301.7 million and $293.1 million, net income of $14.2 million and $8.0 million, and diluted EPS of $0.49 and $0.28, for the fourth quarter of 2022 and first quarter of 2022, respectively.

For the first quarter of 2023, non-GAAP net income was $11.1 million and non-GAAP diluted EPS was $0.38. This compares to non-GAAP net income of $21.0 million and $20.2 million, and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.72 and $0.70, for the fourth quarter of 2022 and first quarter of 2022, respectively.

For the second quarter of 2023, we expect revenue to be in the range of $170 million to $190 million. We expect GAAP diluted EPS to be in the range of $(0.01) to $0.00 and non-GAAP diluted EPS to be in the range of $(0.08) to $0.08.

This outlook for non‑GAAP diluted EPS excludes known charges related to amortization of intangible assets and share-based compensation expense, including the tax adjustments related to these non-GAAP adjustments, as well as any items that are unknown at this time, such as non-recurring tax-related items or other unusual or infrequent items. We cannot provide a reconciliation of our non-GAAP diluted EPS outlook for the second quarter of 2023 because we are unable to provide a meaningful estimation of such unknown items without unreasonable efforts due to their inherent uncertainty. Non-GAAP diluted EPS should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, our financial information presented in accordance with GAAP.

We ended the first quarter of 2023 with cash and cash equivalents of $68.8 million, a decrease of $17.6 million from the prior year ended December 30, 2022. The decrease of $17.6 million during the first quarter was primarily due to net cash used in operating activities of $10.9 million and capital expenditures of $6.8 million.

Our cash used in operating activities of $10.9 million during the first quarter consisted of net loss of $0.0 million, net non-cash charges of $11.2 million, consisting primarily of depreciation and amortization of $8.5 million and share-based compensation expense of $3.6 million, and an increase in our net operating assets and liabilities of $22.1 million.

The increase in our net operating assets and liabilities of $22.1 million during the first quarter was primarily due to a decrease in accounts payable of $43.0 million, which was primarily due to the timing of inventory purchases and receipts, partially offset by a decrease in accounts receivable of $13.6 million and a decrease in inventories of $12.1 million.

In addition to U.S. GAAP results, this press release also contains non-GAAP financial results, including non‑GAAP gross profit, non‑GAAP operating income, non‑GAAP net income, non‑GAAP diluted EPS, and free cash flow. Management uses certain non-GAAP metrics to evaluate our operating and financial results. We believe the presentation of non-GAAP results is useful to investors for analyzing business trends and comparing performance to prior periods, along with enhancing investors’ ability to view our results from management’s perspective. Non-GAAP gross profit, operating income, and net income are defined as: gross profit, operating income, or net income (loss), respectively, excluding (1) amortization of intangible assets, share-based compensation expense, and discrete or infrequent charges and gains that are outside of normal business operations, including acquisition-related costs, contract and legal settlement gains and losses, facility shutdown costs, and severance costs associated with reduction-in-force programs, to the extent they are present in gross profit, operating income, and net income, respectively; and (2) the tax impacts associated with these non-GAAP adjustments, as well as non-recurring discrete tax items. Non-GAAP diluted EPS is defined as non-GAAP net income divided by weighted average diluted ordinary shares outstanding during the period. Non-GAAP gross margin and non-GAAP operating margin are defined as non-GAAP gross profit and non-GAAP operating income, respectively, divided by net sales. Free cash flow is defined as cash provided by or used in operating activities, less capital expenditures. Tables showing these metrics on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis, with reconciliation footnotes thereto, are included at the end of this press release.

Non-GAAP results have limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for our results reported under GAAP. Other companies may calculate non-GAAP results differently or may use other measures to evaluate their performance, both of which could reduce the usefulness of our non-GAAP results as a tool for comparison.

Because of these limitations, you should consider non-GAAP results alongside other financial performance measures and results presented in accordance with GAAP. In addition, in evaluating non-GAAP results, you should be aware that in the future we will incur expenses such as those that are the subject of adjustments in deriving non-GAAP results and you should not infer from our presentation of non-GAAP results that our future results will not be affected by these expenses or other discrete or infrequent charges and gains that are outside of normal business operations.

We will conduct a conference call to discuss our first quarter 2023 results and business outlook today at 1:30 p.m. PT.

To listen to a live webcast of the call, please visit our investor relations website at https://ir.ichorsystems.com, or go to the live link at https://webcast-eqs.com/ichor050923. To listen via telephone, please call (877) 407‑0989 (domestic) or +1 (201) 389‑0921 (international), conference ID: 13737388.

After the call, an on-demand replay will be available at the same webcast link.

We are a leader in the design, engineering, and manufacturing of critical fluid delivery subsystems and components primarily for semiconductor capital equipment, as well as other industries such as defense/aerospace and medical. Our primary product offerings include gas and chemical delivery subsystems, collectively known as fluid delivery subsystems, which are key elements of the process tools used in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices. Our gas delivery subsystems deliver, monitor and control precise quantities of the specialized gases used in semiconductor manufacturing processes such as etch and deposition. Our chemical delivery subsystems precisely blend and dispense the reactive liquid chemistries used in semiconductor manufacturing processes such as chemical-mechanical planarization, electroplating, and cleaning. We also provide precision-machined components, weldments, e-beam and laser welded components, precision vacuum and hydrogen brazing, surface treatment technologies, and other proprietary products. We are headquartered in Fremont, CA. https://ir.ichorsystems.com.

We use a 52- or 53-week fiscal year ending on the last Friday in December. Our fiscal years ended December 29, 2023 and December 30, 2022 each are 52 weeks. References to 2023 and 2022 relate to the fiscal years then ended. The three-month periods ended March 31, 2023, December 30, 2022, and April 1, 2022 each were 13 weeks. References to the first quarter of 2023, fourth quarter of 2022, and first quarter of 2022 relate to the three-month periods then ended.

Certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "guidance," "expects," "intends," “may,” “will,” "projects," "plans," “predicts,” "believes," “could,” "estimates," "targets," "anticipates," “look forward,” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements.

Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding financial results for our second fiscal quarter of 2023 and the outlook beyond the first quarter, statements regarding the impacts of current macroeconomic conditions, U.S. export restrictions on semiconductor-related goods and services, materials or component shortages from suppliers, as well as any other statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions, which may not prove to be accurate. These statements are not guarantees and are subject to risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from these forward-looking statements, including: (1) geopolitical, economic and market conditions, including heightened inflation, slower growth or recession, changes to fiscal and monetary policy, higher interest rates, currency fluctuations, challenges in the supply chain and any disruptions in European economies as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, (2) dependence on expenditures by manufacturers and cyclical downturns in the semiconductor capital equipment industry, (3) reliance on a very small number of original equipment manufacturers for a significant portion of sales, (4) negotiating leverage held by our customers, (5) competitiveness and rapid evolution of the industries in which we participate, (6) risks associated with weakness in the global economy and geopolitical instability, (7) keeping pace with developments in the industries we serve and with technological innovation generally, (8) designing, developing and introducing new products that are accepted by original equipment manufacturers in order to retain our existing customers and obtain new customers, (9) managing our manufacturing and procurement process effectively, (10) defects in our products that could damage our reputation, decrease market acceptance and result in potentially costly litigation, (11) dependence on a limited number of suppliers, and (12) the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic, any related or unrelated public health threat or fear of such event on economic activity, us and our customers, suppliers, employees, and other business relations, including, but not limited to, demand for our products, workforce availability, and costs to manufacture our products. Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including other risks, relevant factors, and uncertainties identified in the "Risk Factors" section of our Annual Report on Form 10‑K filed with the SEC on February 24, 2023.

All forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon information available to us as of the date hereof, and qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of actual results, changes in our expectations, future events or developments, or otherwise, except as required by law.

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