HSINCHU, Nov. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

3Q13 Highlights (as compared to 2Q13):

• Net Revenue Increased 3.5% to US$172.9 Million from US$167.1 Million
• Gross Profit Increased to US$38.3 Million from US$25.7 Million
• Gross Margin Increased to 22.2% from 15.4%
• Operating Profit Increased to US$27.9 Million from US$20.7 Million
• Net Earnings of US$0.51 Per Basic Common Share and US$0.49 Per Diluted Common Share Compared to US$0.42 Per Basic Common Share and US$0.41 Per Diluted Common Share
• Retained Balance of Cash and Cash Equivalents at US$432.0 Million

ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES (Bermuda) LTD. ("ChipMOS" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: IMOS), an industry leading provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test services ("OSAT"), today reported unaudited consolidated financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2013. All U.S. dollar figures in this release are based on the exchange rate of NT$29.56 against US$1.00 as of September 30, 2013.

Net revenue for the third quarter of 2013 was NT$5,111.9 million or US$172.9 million, an increase of 3.5% from NT$4,939.2 million or US$167.1 million in the second quarter of 2013 and a decrease of 0.5% from NT$5,139.9 million or US$173.9 million for the same period in 2012.

Net income for the third quarter of 2013 was NT$442.5 million or US$15.0 million, and NT$14.97 or US$0.51 per basic common share and NT$14.60 or US$0.49 per diluted common share, as compared to net income for the second quarter of 2013 of NT$358.5 million or US$12.1 million, and NT$12.28 or US$0.42 per basic common share and NT$12.00 or US$0.41 per diluted common share, and compared to net income in the third quarter of 2012 of NT$374.1 million or US$12.7 million, and NT$13.69 or US$0.46 per basic common share and NT$13.28 or US$0.45 per diluted common share.

The unaudited consolidated financial results of ChipMOS for the third quarter ended September 30, 2013 included the financial results of ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES INC. ("ChipMOS Taiwan"), ChipMOS U.S.A., Inc., ThaiLin Semiconductor Corp. ("ThaiLin") and MODERN MIND TECHNOLOGY LIMITED and its wholly-owned subsidiary ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES (Shanghai) LTD.

S.J. Cheng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ChipMOS, said, "Strong third quarter results reflect our continued ability to drive higher utilization of our assembly, bumping and LCD driver capacity, benefit of a favorable customer mix, and successful ongoing operating cost reduction initiatives in our assembly and bumping segments. Revenue increased 3.5% in 3Q13 compared to 2Q13, while our utilization rate increased to 81% from 79% in 2Q13, and 75% in 1Q13. Importantly, our gross margin exceeded the high end of our 3Q13 guidance of 16% to 20%, reaching 22.2% in 3Q13 from 15.4% 2Q13 and 13.9% in 1Q13. We remain confident in our business strategy and growth prospects but do expect to see the impact of typical seasonality in 4Q13 on both our large and small panel LCD businesses. We would expect this to be followed by a resumption of growth in the 1Q14. At the same time, we continue to make significant progress in the Taiwan listing application for our majority-owned subsidiary, ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES INC. (Gre Tai Securities Market: Ticker 8150) ("ChipMOS Taiwan"), including the recent sale of its shares to meet ownership guidelines of the Taiwan Stock Exchange ("TSE"). We expect shareholders to benefit from our ongoing actions as we work to achieve a higher market valuation."

S.K. Chen, Chief Financial Officer of ChipMOS, said, "The leverage of our business is clearly evidenced in our results. For the first nine months of 2013, we more than doubled our net income to US$1.31 per diluted share compared to US$0.60 per diluted share in the first nine months of 2012, while revenue level remained relatively unchanged at US$489.6 million compared to US$485.6 million, in 2013 and 2012, respectively. Our 3Q13 gross margin of 22.2% reached the highest level since 4Q07 when we achieved a 24.6% gross margin. Our ability to support customer growth programs in higher margin segments on lower capital expenditures ("CapEx") has made a significant impact. CapEx in the third quarter were US$34.7 million, as we pulled in some investments planned for 2014 in support of growth opportunities, a strategy we outlined at the end of 2Q13. Depreciation and amortization expenses in 3Q13 came in at US$26.3 million, a US$2.6 million reduction compared to 2Q13. We expect the depreciation and amortization expenses in 4Q13 to be flat as compared to Q313 at approximately US$26 million. We generated free cash flow of US$8.5 million in 3Q13. We exited the third quarter with a balance of cash and cash equivalents of US$432.0 million. This does not fully reflect the Company¡¦s sale of 180 million outstanding shares of ChipMOS Taiwan, which closed on October 3, 2013 and generated net proceeds to the Company of US$119.3 million. Total debt stood at US$281.5 million resulting in decrease of net debt to equity ratio to -33.3% compared to -14.1% in Q213."