(Source: PRNewswire-Asia)

ZHUHAI, China, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Actions Semiconductor Co., Ltd. , one of China's leading fabless semiconductor companies that provides comprehensive mixed-signal system-on-a-chip (SoC) and multimedia digital signal processing (DSP) solutions for portable consumer electronics, today reported its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009.
All financial results are reported on a U.S. GAAP basis.
Revenue for the third quarter of 2009 was $13.4 million, as compared to revenue of $10.5 million for the second quarter of 2009, and $27.3 million for the third quarter of 2008.
Net loss attributable to Actions Semiconductor shareholders for the third quarter of 2009 was $0.6 million, or ($0.01) per ADS, compared to net loss attributable to Actions Semiconductor shareholders of $0.8 million, or ($0.01) per ADS, for the second quarter of 2009, and net income attributable to Actions Semiconductor shareholders of $7.3 million, or $0.09 per ADS, for the third quarter of 2008.
Gain on deemed disposal of $1.7 million was recorded in the third quarter, as a result of diluting our share ownership in Actions Beijing from 80% as a subsidiary to 35% as an equity method invested company.
Actions Semiconductor reported gross margin of 30.8% for the third quarter of 2009. Actions Semiconductor ended the quarter with $43.1 million in cash and cash equivalents together with time deposits. Marketable securities, current and non-current, at the end of the quarter were $211.7 million.
Since the share repurchase programs started in 2007, the Company has invested approximately $23.4 million in repurchasing its shares. As of September 30, 2009, approximately 9.8 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs) were repurchased.
"Our third quarter results were driven by improving demand in our automotive MP3 and low end as well as advanced Portable Media Player ("PMP") product categories," stated Mr. Nan-Horng Yeh, CEO of Actions Semiconductor. "During the third quarter, our market share in these product categories continued to grow and sales in these categories accounted for more than half of our total revenue. We are pleased to report an improvement in gross margin for the third quarter compared to the second quarter of 2009, which reflects the positive impact from our manufacturing cost reduction initiatives as we have been migrating to a smaller geometry. As the challenging operating environment continues, our management team remains focused on strengthening our competitive position, closely managing costs, and maintaining our strong balance sheet. We continue to believe that our differentiators are our operating flexibility, unique business model, and commitment to technological innovation."
Business Outlook
The following statements are based upon management's current expectations. These statements are forward-looking, and actual results may differ materially. The company undertakes no obligation to update these statements.
For the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009 ending December 31, 2009, Actions Semiconductor estimates revenue in the range of $8.5 to $10.5 million, gross margin of 27%-30%, and operating expenses slightly higher on a sequential basis. The fourth quarter 2009 estimates include share-based compensation expense in the range of $0.9 to $1.0 million.
Conference Call Details
Actions Semiconductor's third quarter 2009 teleconference and webcast is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time, on Thursday, November 5, 2009. To participate in the live call, analysts and investors should dial 877-941- 2069 (within U.S.) or +1-480-629-9713 (outside U.S.) at least ten minutes prior to the call. Actions Semiconductor will also offer a live and archived webcast of the conference call, accessible from the "Investor Relations" section of the company's website at http://www.actions-semi.com/ . An audio replay of the call will be available to investors through November 7, 2009, by dialing 800-406-7325 (within U.S.) or +1-303-590-3030 (outside U.S.) and entering the passcode 4164742.
About Actions Semiconductor
Actions Semiconductor is one of China's leading fabless semiconductor companies that provides mixed-signal and multimedia SoC solutions for portable consumer electronics. Actions Semiconductor products include SoCs, firmware, software, solution development kits, as well as detailed specifications of other required components and the providers of those components. Actions Semiconductor also provides total product and technology solutions that allow customers to quickly introduce new portable consumer electronics to the mass market in a cost effective way. The company is headquartered in Zhuhai, China, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. For more information, please visit the Actions Semiconductor website at http://www.actions-semi.com/ .
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, including financial projections and forecasts, involve risks and uncertainties that could cause Actions Semiconductor's actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Factors that could cause Actions Semiconductor's results to differ materially from those set forth in these forward-looking statements include customers' cancellation or modification of their orders; our failure to accurately forecast demand for our products; the loss of, or a significant reduction in orders from, any of our significant customers; fluctuations in our operating results; our inability to develop and sell new products; defects in or failures of our products; the expense and uncertainty involved in our customer design-win efforts; the financial viability of the distributors of our products; consumer demand; worldwide economic and political conditions; fluctuations in our costs to manufacture our products; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, test, assemble and ship our products; our ability to retain and attract key personnel; our ability to compete with our competitors; and our ability to protect our intellectual property rights and not infringe the intellectual property rights of others. Other factors that may cause our actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release and that may affect our prospects in general are described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recently filed Forms F-1, 20-F and 6-Ks. Actions Semiconductor undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or changed assumptions or circumstances.
For further information, please contact:
The Blueshirt Group
Lisa Laukkanen
Email: lisa@blueshirtgroup.com
Tel: +1-415-217-4967
Investor Relations at Actions Semiconductor
Edward Chen
Email: edward@actions-semi.com
Tel: +86-756-3392353 x1110
ACTIONS SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
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