ST's fourth quarter net revenues up 13.6% sequentially

President and ceo, Carlo Bozotti (pictured), believes that the results reflect a positive finish to a difficult year for ST. He said: "Our fourth quarter net revenue increased 13.6% sequentially, above our outlook range and our gross margin came in at 37%, above the midpoint of our outlook range. Excluding restructuring charges, ST returned to an operating income of $90 million for the quarter." According to Bozotti, the company's stronger than forecasted quarterly sequential revenue performance was thanks to growth in all regions and market segments, with all segments, except Telecom, posting double digit growth. Bozotti continued: "Despite the challenging economic environment, ST made significant progress over the course of 2009 by successfully delivering on key actions announced earlier in the year. First, we protected and then enhanced our cash position, improving our net financial position by $965million to end the year with a net cash position of $420m. Second, we made excellent progress in lowering our cost base with a $1billion savings plan to be completed by about mid 2010. As a result, we improved our financial performance having generated, as anticipated, some points of operating margin and net operating cash flow equal to 8.6% of sales despite an unfavorable currency environment." ST's Net revenues for the full year 2009 were $8.51bn compared to 2008 revenues of $9.84bn.