last months statment!14 Nov 2014 17:28
Continued and sustained strong cash generation has enabled Pure Wafer to invest in this additional capacity and further technology advancements, whilst continuing to reduce its level of debt, and has positioned the Company ready for the payment of a maiden dividend.
In January we reported that our competitors based in Japan were benefitting from favourable movements in the USD/YEN exchange rate, giving them a competitive advantage, which resulted in increased pricing pressure in the global wafer reclaim market. However, I am pleased to report that through increased customer engagement and a high level of customer satisfaction, this pressure has now stabilised. Furthermore, tight cost control, operational restructuring, and an improvement in process yields have helped to ensure no material impact on profitability.
The impact of exchange rate movements has been mitigated to some extent by the Company's forward currency purchasing policy. However, the strength of sterling during the year has resulted in an increase in the Company's sterling denominated cost base of approximately $0.2m for the year which otherwise would have contributed a commensurate amount to operating profits.
I am also pleased to report that, once again both manufacturing sites in Swansea and Prescott have continued to run at record levels of productivity, which together with the continuing close management of costs, has resulted in Pure Wafer's cost per wafer running at an all-time low for the fifth successive year, providing continued confidence in the strength of the business going forward.
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