"AZEM make high-purity, advanced specialty chemicals and materials for use in integrated circuits and devices, flat panel displays and photolithographic printing.
Spin-on Dielectrics or AZ "Spinfil" SOD Series is a Poly (perhydrosilazane) � (SiH2NH) based inorganic SOD material designed by AZ Electronic Materials to be used for gapfilling and in planarization applications in advanced device manufacturing. AZ "Spinfil" SOD Series can be converted to SiO2 based film which has similar properties to high performance CVD.
AZ "Spinfil" SOD Series is the industry-standard material and is used as the dielectric technology for FEOL gapfilling applications in advanced device manufacturing
Klebosol is a leading brand of multipurpose colloidal silica, with applications in a diverse array of industries ranging from beverage to electronics.
The Klebosol range of colloidal silica products are stable suspensions of independent (non-agglomerated), non-porous and spherical particles of silica (SiO)
The Optronic market covers Flat-Panel Display, LED and Solar markets where reflectance, transmittance and absorption of visible light are key in the end products.
In combination of our coating, lithography and silicon technologies, AZEM develop, produce and sell products which are key in the performance of the end products and allow for efficient and cost-effective production processes.
AZEM produce and sell specialty niche products consisting of dielectrics, underlayers, yield enhancers and pattern enhancers as well as conventional products consisting of IC photoresist, TFRs, EBRs and other ancillary products.
These products enable the production of ICs, which are integral to the manufacture of a broad range of electronic devices such as computers, telecommunications equipment, electronic systems in automotive and industrial applications and a wide variety of other consumer electronics products."

StockMarketWire.com
AZ Electronic Materials' core business are performing well and its full-year expectations are unchanged.

AZ said that as expected, the more challenging trading conditions that it experienced towards the end of 2011 continued throughout the first quarter.

Group revenue fell by 4% to $184.0m - a reduction of 5% on a constant currency basis - but the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin was in line with management's expectations.

It adds: "Current trading in April shows that both of our core businesses are performing well. In the integrated circuit industry, several of our customers have reported that they are increasing wafer capacity and utilisation, which we expect to have a positive influence in the second quarter and beyond.

"In the flat panel display industry, we expect an upturn in end user markets and new product qualifications to drive further growth of our Optronics business as we go through the year.

"Assuming no adverse change in the consumer and trading environment, we expect sequential quarterly growth throughout 2012 and management's expectations for the 2012 full year are unchanged."

StockMarketWire.com
AZ Electronic Materials S.A. confirms that it intends to announce its Half-Year Results for the six months ended 30 June 2012 on Thursday, 23 August.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4431625

Highlights
· Solid trading performance in the first half, in line with our expectations.

· Total revenue down 2% to US$383.6m (down 2% at constant currencies3); second quarter revenues up 8% sequentially.

· EBITDA down 3% to US$125.1m (down 5% at constant currencies3), reflecting lower revenue and higher year-on-year R&D investment.

· IC Materials division revenue down 1% to US$265.8m (down 1% at constant currencies3). Second quarter revenues up 8% sequentially, assisted by improved demand and further product penetration in IC Niche.

· Optronics division revenue down 2% to US$108.1m (down 1% at constant currencies3). Second quarter revenues up 9% sequentially, driven by improved trading in the global flat panel display industry.

· Focused investment to support next generation ICs and FPDs.

· Completion of manufacturing facility expansion in Korea and commencement of production at new build in Taiwan both on schedule for fourth quarter, in support of AZ's IC Niche business.

· Strong cash flow reduced net debt to US$329.5m; net debt to EBITDA2 multiple improved to 1.3x.

· Interim dividend increased by 5% to 4.0 cents per share.

Outlook
We continue to expect growth in the second half of the year and are encouraged that our underlying markets are developing in line with our expectations. Notwithstanding this, we remain mindful of a macroeconomic environment that is driving increased volatility in the short-term demand for our products. This suggests third quarter revenues will be around the same levels as the second quarter, with a stronger growth environment expected in the fourth quarter.

Nice descending flag Harry - which way is it going to break!

Down! :o(
Not (fortunately) holding this one a present.

StockMarketWire.com
AZ Electronic Materials' current trading is in line with its expectation and the full-year forecasts are unchanged.

AZ said it made solid progress in the third quarter against the backdrop of an uncertain macroeconomic environment.

Group revenue increased by 1% year-on-year to $203.5m (Q3 2011: $202.0m), and on a constant currency basis was up 4% on Q3 2011.

Group revenue for the nine months to the end of September was $587.1m, down 1% from last year (flat at constant currencies).

The group's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin in the quarter was in line with expectations.

StockMarketWire.com
Goldman Sachs has downgraded its recommendation on the speciality chemical company AZ Electronic Materials (LON:AZEM) to "buy" from "conviction buy" following the recent share price outperformance. The City broker left its share price target unchanged at 435 pence. Analyst Rakesh Patel said: "We continue to regard AZ as a high quality, well positioned specialty chemical company whose products are critical to the production of semiconductor chips and flat panel displays but are a very small proportion of their production cost. AZ's recent third quarter interim management statement was reassuring and stated that its expectations for the year were unchanged. Previous guidance had called for a stronger growth environment in the fourth quarter (although we note there can be some volatility around December). "In our view, growth should be supported by smartphone sales (following the iPhone 5 launch), tablet sales (e.g. Surface, iPad, iPad mini), and some recovery in FAB utilization rates which are currently at depressed levels. Following recent outperformance, we remove AZ Electronic Materials from the conviction buy list but maintain our buy rating."

StockMarketWire.com
UBS has downgraded its recommendation on the speciality chemical company AZ Electronic Materials (LON:AZEM) to "neutral" from "buy" following the recent share price outperformance. The City broker has increased its share price target to 390 pence from 350 pence. Shares in AZ Electronic Materials have increased in value by over 20 per cent in the last six months. Broker Forecasts consensus data shows that 71 per cent of brokers have a buy recommendation with the remainder maintaining a neutral stance.
Analyst Thomas Gilbert said: "Following strong performance of AZ Electronic Materials and having closed its valuation gap versus the UK Speciality Chemicals sector we remove AZ from our Pan-Euro Midcap Key Call List and downgrade the stock to neutral from buy. We continue to like the fundamentals of the AZ investment case but we feel currently much of this is being priced in: 1) organic growth opportunities, 2) defensive margin profile, 3) strong cash generation and 4) strong market positions."

StockMarketWire.com
AZ Electronic Materials reports solid results for the year to the end of December with a strong platform for growth.

Pre-tax profits rose to $129.1m - up 3% - while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by 1% to $262.4m and margins rose by 0.1 percentage points to 33.1%.

The company says it expects 2013 to be a year in which revenues and profits will show positive momentum, with industry analysts and its discussions with customers suggesting a stronger environment for growth during the second half of the year.

But it says there are still uncertainties in the near-term macroeconomic outlook that continue to have an impact on consumer markets and many of its customers.

But, nevertheless, it expects the first half to show modest year-on-year growth. Chief executive Geoff Wild said: "We have delivered solid results for 2012. I'm pleased with the continued market penetration of our products, particularly in IC Niche where we continue to grow ahead of the market, and also in Optronics where we continue to make good progress.

"Although the near-term outlook remains uncertain, the fundamental long-term demand drivers for our business continue to be strong. Our customers continue to invest heavily in leading edge innovation to support new interactive and powerful consumer electronic technologies.

"We remain focused on positioning AZ to capture these opportunities and are confident of making progress in 2013 and beyond."

Q1 2013 Interim Management Statement and Current Trading Update
AZ Electronic Materials S.A. ("AZ" or "Group") today publishes its Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 January to 8 April 2013. Unless otherwise indicated, the unaudited financial information, stated in US dollars, is for the three month period to 31 March 2013 ("Q1"), as compared to the corresponding period last year.

Q1 performance and H1 outlook

Group revenue in Q1 decreased by 2% year-on-year to $179.9m (Q1 2012: $184.0m). The divisional mix of revenue in Q1 was characterised by weakness in IC Materials with lower than expected sales and unfavourable product mix, and continued strength in Optronics. This resulted in the Group's EBITDA margin in Q1 being lower than normal.

Recent trading and order visibility for Q2 show that the IC Materials business is likely to continue to perform below our expectations for the first half of the year. We therefore expect the Group EBITDA margin for the first half to be under 30%.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4570453

BFN
John Whybrow, Chairman, bought 40,000 shares in the company on the 9th April 2013 at a price of 254.00p. The Director now holds 118,541 shares.

Andrew Allner, Non Executive Director, bought 10,000 shares in the company on the 9th April 2013 at a price of 255.00p. The Director now holds 36,828 shares.

StockMarketWire.com
N+1 Singer lifts AZ Electronic Materials to buy from hold, target 320p from 420p.

Credit Suisse starts neutral on AZ Electronic Materials, target 350p.

Confirmation of 2013 Half-Year Results Announcement Date
AZ Electronic Materials S.A. confirms that it intends to announce its half-year results for the six months ended 30 June 2013 on Thursday, 15 August 2013.

The Company will host a results presentation for sell-side analysts on that day at 8.30am (BST) at the offices of FTI Consulting, Holborn Gate, 26 Southampton Buildings, London WC2A 1PB.

StockMarketWire.com

Deutsche Bank has downgraded its recommendation on AZ Electronic Materials (LON:AZEM) to "hold" from "buy" seeing any upside momentum to earnings per share forecasts as unlikely and therefore believes current balance of risk and reward is not attractive enough to warrant an ongoing "buy" rating. The City broker has left its price target unchanged at 380 pence per share.

StockMarketWire.com
AZ Electronic Materials posts operating profits of $60.5m for the six months to the end of June - 16% down on last time.

Revenues were 1% lower at $363.7m and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell by 10% to $110.7m.

The group says its earnings expectations for the current year are unchanged.

It says many of its customers are increasing their investment in new and leading edge semiconductor and display technologies, indicating longer term confidence in these markets. However, in the short term they are using their existing capacities with caution in light of macroeconomic uncertainties.

Consequently, it anticipates a softer pick-up in demand for its products in the second half than previously anticipated.

Chief executive Geoff Wild said: "The group is making encouraging progress with the development and commercialisation of new products for our key customers in both IC Niche and Optronics. While the industry backdrop is likely to remain unpredictable in the near-term, the long term demand drivers for our business remain strong and our customers continue to invest heavily in leading edge innovation to support new consumer technologies.

"We remain focused on positioning AZ to capture these opportunities and on building long term value for our shareholders."

StockMarketWire.com
AZ Electronic Materials' third quarter revenues down 10% on a year ago at $182.9m - 5% on a constant currency basis

The group says trading conditions during the quarter were consistent with those anticipated at the time of the half-year results, announced on 15 August.

Group revenue for the nine months ended 30 September was $546.6m, down 7% from the corresponding period last year (down 3% at constant currencies). The group's EBITDA margin in Q3 was in line with expectations.

StockMarketWire.com
AZ Electronic Materials board has agreed a £1,565m offer from Merck.

The recommended cash offer of 403.5p per share represents a premium of 53% to the closing price last night (4 December).

AZ chairman John Whybrow said: "For many years AZ has been recognised as one of the foremost leaders in high purity innovative materials for the high technology electronics market.

"Since its IPO in 2010, AZ has concentrated on diversifying its product portfolio and investing in both its IC and Optronics businesses. As materials become increasingly important in the markets we serve, strong R&D capabilities and a broad base are needed to secure economies of scale and entry into new markets.

"The current strategic opportunity for AZ to combine with Merck is therefore compelling. AZ has strong market positions along with a focused product development capability: by combining with Merck, these two attributes will reinforce long term growth opportunities.

"The recommended offer by Merck reflects this opportunity and represents attractive value for AZ's shareholders."