UMS Holdings

[Boon]

Global Semiconductor Sales Increase in February Compared to Last Year

February marks global market's 22nd straight month of year-to-year growth; Americas post strongest growth among regional markets

Published Monday, April 6, 2015 8:00 am

by Dan Rosso

WASHINGTON—April 6, 2015—The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and design, today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $27.8 billion for the month of February 2015, an increase of 6.7 percent from February 2014 when sales were $26.0 billion. Global sales from February 2015 were 2.7 percent lower than the January 2015 total of $28.5 billion, reflecting seasonal trends. Regionally, sales in the Americas increased by 17.1 percent compared to last February to lead all regional markets. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

“The global semiconductor industry maintained momentum in February, posting its 22nd straight month of year-to-year growth despite macroeconomic headwinds,” said John Neuffer, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “Sales of DRAM and Analog products were particularly strong, notching double-digit growth over last February, and the Americas market achieved its largest year-to-year sales increase in 12 months.”....................................

http://www.semiconductors.org/news/2015/...last_year/

http://www.semiconductors.org/clientuplo...elease.pdf

(vested)

[Boon]

AR2014 is out

http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/UMS_Annu...eID=342346

It remains anybody's guess as to how much has AMAT pared down its stake in UMS......................

But interestingly, Morgan Stanley Asia still holds 5.33% stake (as reported in AR2014) - it used to hold 6.44% (as reported in AR2013) of which 6% was for AMAT.

(vested)

[specuvestor]

Thanks Boon for following this stock so closely. Time really flies. We had discussed the stock for over a year now...

yeah disappointing that the figures do not give any hint on how much AMAT still holds.

OTOH Andy's stake has declined from 25.78% to 20.01%. Interesting all the top 9 holders including nominees have reduced their holdings (ie likely sold their bonus shares like Andy) which means the spread of shareholders have probably broadened quite significantly rather than concentrated, or simply evidenced by the distribution of shareholdings. Not unreasonable to assume that AMAT baiscally just sold the bonus shares as well and now still owns 4.8% stake

http://umsgroup.listedcompany.com/stock_insider.html
NB seems like numbers in between don't necessary tie

[Nick]

The SGX StockFacts website gives a list of shareholders. Is that accurate ? If so, AMAT holds 4.84%.

(Not Vested)

[CityFarmer]

The SGX StockFacts website gives a list of shareholders. Is that accurate ? If so, AMAT holds 4.84%.

(Not Vested)

I really doubt the StockFacts data is up-to-date. I reckon it stays at the last publicly announced holdings, before AMAT ceased as SSH.

(vested)

[Boon]

North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts March 2015 Book-to-Bill Ratio of 1.10

SAN JOSE, Calif. — April 21, 2015 — North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.37 billion in orders worldwide in March 2015 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.10, according to the March EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI. A book-to-bill of 1.10 means that $110 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in March 2015 was $1.37 billion. The bookings figure is 4.6 percent higher than the final February 2015 level of $1.31 billion, and is 5.9 percent higher than the March 2014 order level of $1.30 billion.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in March 2015 was $1.25 billion. The billings figure is 2.4 percent lower than the final February 2015 level of $1.28 billion, and is 1.9 percent higher than the March 2014 billings level of $1.23 billion.

“Three-month average bookings reported by North American-based semiconductor manufacturing equipment providers reflected sequential and year-over-year momentum in the first quarter of 2015,” said SEMI president and CEO Denny McGuirk. "This marks the third consecutive month that bookings exceeded billing and the ratio remained above parity.”.........................................................

http://www.semi.org/en/node/55756?id=highlights

(vested)

[specuvestor]

(Bloomberg) -- Tokyo Electron Ltd. and Applied Materials
Inc. scrapped their planned merger after opposition from the
U.S. Department of Justice.
The regulator told the companies their proposal wouldn’t be
enough to remedy competition concerns, according to a statement
Monday. Applied Materials announced plans to buy back $3 billion
of stock and Tokyo Electron will purchase 120 billion yen ($1
billion) of its own shares, according to separate statements.
“Based on the DoJ’s position, Applied Materials and Tokyo
Electron have determined that there is no realistic prospect for
the completion of the merger,” they said in the statement.
Applied Materials agreed in September 2013 to buy Tokyo
Electron for $9.39 billion in stock to add scale as a shrinking
base of clients makes earnings of suppliers more volatile. Intel
Corp., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung
Electronics Co. now buy the majority of the production machines
deployed by the industry and are the top three customers of both
companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The companies make machines that prepare silicon wafers for
imprinting with the circuits that turn them into processors
capable of crunching numbers, showing video and connecting to
mobile networks, among other tasks.

[kye_lin]

Does this mean AM will continue to rely on UMS? That is good news??

[CityFarmer]

There were two negative forces to pull-down the valuation, one is the merger, the other is the divestment of AM.

Will AM come back to be a SSH, again?

(vested)

[ethys]

There were two negative forces to pull-down the valuation, one is the merger, the other is the divestment of AM.

Will AM come back to be a SSH, again?

(vested)

Speaking of the merger they just announced this is not going to happen...
I think this is a good thing for UMS as there are less things threatening their contract as AMAT supplier now. Some people saw it as an opportunity as this could have brought more activities to UMS but I rather have my 6c a year as a certainty rather than an uncertain 8c div with a possibility of nothing if they drop UMS as their supplier...