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CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY ANNOUNCES
FOURTH QUARTER AND FISCAL 2002 OPERATING RESULTS
IN-LINE WITH EXPECTATIONS
SINGAPORE - August 14, 2002 Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: CREAF), the worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for users of personal computers and the Internet, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2002, ended June 30, 2002. All financial results are stated in U.S. dollars.
Before the revenue contribution and effects of the 3Dlabs acquisition, which was completed on May 15th, and excluding a write-down of investments of $29.8 million, Creative achieved fourth quarter revenues of $175.8 million with net income of $11.6 million or $0.15 per share, in line with expectations. Comparative results for the fourth quarter of last year were revenue of $233.3 million, with net income of $2.5 million or $0.03 per share before investment write-downs. The effects of the 3Dlabs acquisition in the quarter included: a revenue contribution since May 15th of $6.8 million; gross margin of 40% or $2.7 million; operating expenses of $6.1 million including $2.5 million for amortization of intangible assets; and a one-time charge for in-process technology of $26 million. Including the charges and effects related to the 3Dlabs acquisition and the write-down of investments in the period, Creative reported fourth quarter revenues of $182.6 million, with a net loss of $48.4 million or $0.65 per share, as noted in the attached financial statements. This compares to the previous year's fourth quarter revenue of $233.3 million, with a net loss of $73.4 million or $0.94 per share including investment write-downs. For the fiscal year, excluding the charges and effects related to the 3Dlabs acquisition and investment write-downs, Creative reported revenues of $799.1 million, with net income of $55.8 million or $0.74 per share. This compares to the previous year's revenue of $1.226 billion, with net income of $40.9 million or $0.50 per share excluding net investment write-downs and restructuring charges. For the fiscal year, including the charges and effects related to the 3Dlabs acquisition and investment write-downs, Creative reported revenue of $805.9 million, with a net loss of $19.7 million or $0.27 per share. This compares to the previous year's revenue of $1.226 billion with a net loss of $130.4 million or $1.65 per share including write-downs. "We met our guidance for fourth quarter EPS excluding the effects of 3Dlabs and investment write-downs, growing EPS significantly over the same period last year," said Craig McHugh, president of Creative Labs, Inc. "We achieved these results, even though we experienced far lighter than expected demand in the fourth quarter from the system integrator and OEM markets. For the fiscal year, we beat our original guidance of $0.60 per share before special charges and the effects of the 3Dlabs acquisition, achieving $0.74 EPS before charges." "During the quarter, given the depressed outlook for funding and valuation of early stage private technology companies, we took a $29.8 million write-down against our investment portfolio, predominantly as the result of re-valuing our private equity holdings, which are now valued at $15.9 million." "We completed our acquisition of 3Dlabs in the quarter and are making good progress on our integration efforts. We have begun efforts to reduce costs, with a focus on turning around their operating results," said Hock Leow, president of 3Dlabs. "We have taken significant steps forward with our industry-leading ultra high-end workstation visual processing products, and we have started shipping the new Wildcat® VP line, featuring the first fully programmable Visual Processing Unit," Leow continued. "The Wildcat VP line has received a very enthusiastic initial reception from the press and ISV community, and the multiple products in our Wildcat VP line target a broader segment of the workstation market than we have previously addressed. Our scalable architecture has allowed us to rapidly spin another lower-cost visual processor chip for the entry level workstation and volume desktop markets. This second visual processing chip is already fully functioning and we expect to ship before the end of the year." "We had noted previously that we would be taking charges related to the acquisition of 3Dlabs as detailed above, and the statement of operations attached today incorporates these special charges and the effects of the acquisition," said Ng Keh Long, chief financial officer of Creative Technology Ltd. "In addition, our balance sheet reflects the goodwill and intangible assets of $109 million that we have added to our Other Non-current Assets as a result of the acquisition. Of the $109 million, $92 million will be carried on the books as goodwill, and we are going to amortize the remaining $17 million of identified intangibles, with the majority of the amortization taking place over the next three quarters, and the balance over the following five years." "Even in such a tough economic and market climate, we see potential for exciting new products in digital entertainment in the second half of the calendar year. So we have continued to invest in R&D, focusing on innovation in our key product areas," said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. "Over the coming weeks and months, as we move into the holiday selling season, we are preparing to launch many exciting new products. The first two of these new products just began shipping: the NOMAD® MuVo, the world's smallest MP3 player and solid-state USB hard drive all in one; and the Creative ProdiKeys, the revolutionary music and PC keyboard input device for interactive music entertainment. NOMAD MuVo has already won "Editor's Choice" awards from CNet and ZDNet, and was named 'Top Music Gadget' by Newsweek Online and pictured in Newsweek Magazine. And soon to be launched in Japan is the very exciting TravelSound MP3 Titanium, the world's smallest digital stereo speaker system with built-in MP3 player." ADDITIONAL ITEMS Share Buyback Program During the quarter, Creative did not repurchase any shares under its share buyback program. Creative to purchase remaining 50% interest in the Company's building in Singapore In August, 2002, Creative will pay approximately $6.0 million for the remaining 50% interest that it does not currently own in its building located in the International Business Park in Singapore and, additionally, will repay outstanding building-related loans of approximately $7.1 million. Background: In November 1994, Creative Technology Ltd. entered into a joint venture agreement with Bukit Frontiers Pte Ltd ("BFPL"), a company owned by Creative's Chairman and CEO, Sim Wong Hoo. The joint venture agreement, which was approved by Creative's shareholders, provided that Creative and BFPL would set up Creative Technology Centre Pte Ltd ("CTC") and each would hold 50% of CTC. CTC was set up to carry out the development of a building in Singapore to house all of Creative's Singapore operations (including corporate, manufacturing, research and development, and sales and marketing functions). The building was completed in July, 1997. The joint venture was formed because Creative anticipated requiring only about 50% of the building space upon the expected completion of the building. Sim's participation and the creation of the joint venture allowed Creative to stagger its capital investment in the building and reduce its cost of funding, while providing Creative the further benefit of assured additional space in the same building when needed to house its then-expanding operations in Singapore, and allowing CTC to derive rental income from leasing of the space not occupied by Creative to third parties. The land for the building was leased from a Singapore government body, Jurong Town Corporation ("JTC"), on a long-term lease. As a condition of the lease of land from JTC, at the end of the five-year term commencing with the completion of the building, Creative was required to purchase all of BFPL's shareholdings in CTC, such that Creative would then have an effective 100% ownership of the building. In accordance with the joint venture agreement, the financial consideration for the purchase of CTC shares was set at CTC's net asset value at July 4th, 2002, as audited by Creative's auditors based on the value of the building as determined by an independent property appraiser. The total consideration to be paid by Creative for the shares held by BFPL in CTC is about $6.0 million. Thus, pursuant to the joint venture agreement, Creative will purchase the 50% interest in CTC from BFPL. During the construction phase between 1995 and 1997, BFPL also made interest-free loans of $7.1 million to CTC. Creative, in taking over full control of CTC, shall repay the loan total of $7.1 million.
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