OCZ Technology Group, Inc. Reports Fiscal 2012 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results

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OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, reports its fourth quarter (Q4'12) and year-end results for the fiscal year 2012, (FY'12), which ended on February 29, 2012.

Financial Highlights

- Fiscal year 2012, net revenue increased 92% to $365.8 million compared with fiscal year 2011 net revenue of $190.1 million. Net revenue in Q4'12 was a record $110.4 million, and increased 71% compared with net revenue of $64.6 million reported in Q4'11.
- Fiscal year 2012, SSD revenue was $338.9 million, up 154% compared with $133.2 million in fiscal year 2011. Q4'12 SSD revenue reached a record $103.2 million; an increase of 77% compared with Q4'11 SSD revenue of $58.2 million.
- Fiscal year 2012 gross margins increased to 22.5% compared to 12.7% with fiscal year 2011. Q4'12 gross margin increased to 25.0% compared with 16.6% in Q4'11, and 22.5% in Q3'12.
- Net loss for Q4'12 was $10.9 million or $0.19 loss per share compared with a net loss of $9.3 million or $0.27 loss per share in Q4'11.
- Non-GAAP net loss for Q4'12 was $6.0 million or $0.11 loss per share as compared with a non-GAAP net loss for Q4'11 of $0.8 million or $0.02 loss per share.



"In reflecting on fiscal 2012, we are extremely pleased with the progress the Company has made both financially and operationally, this is highlighted by the fact that based on recent market data from independent analysts, we have achieved our goal to become the world's largest independent SSD manufacturer," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. "Our ongoing investments have enabled us to build a strong foundation of core technology, support continued high levels of revenue growth, increase gross profit margins, and a move towards a vertically integrated business model."

"Consistent with our stated objectives, we have successfully integrated numerous technology focused acquisitions, increased SSD revenues, and built out a cost effective supply chain and manufacturing operation. Our continued execution will allow us to support ongoing growth initiatives and deliver significant operational leverage as we scale. We believe we are better positioned than ever before to take advantage of the opportunity that the SSD market presents," added Petersen.

Recent Business Highlights

- Net revenue for our Storage Area Network (SAN) replacement products has ramped significantly since release in August and exited the year at over $8 million per quarter.

- Introduced, well ahead of schedule, the Vertex 4 SATA III series of SSDs featuring the Company's advanced Indilinx Everest 2 controller platform, which delivers industry-best performance for SATA-based drives of 120,000 random input/output operations per second (IOPS).

- OCZ was named to CRN's 2012 Data Center 100 list for its comprehensive lineup of performance oriented solutions and continued innovation to make SSDs the storage of choice for server and data center infrastructures.

- In January, OCZ acquired SANRAD Ltd., which provided OCZ with its VXL Virtualization and Flash Caching software technology for its Z-Drive R4 Solutions in VMware, Citrix Xen and Microsoft Hyper-V environments; subsequently, VXL was brought to market in late February.

- In February and March, OCZ completed a $110 million public offering to support our continued growth objectives, including initiatives to move to NAND wafer purchasing and to support growth of our SAN replacement products.

- OCZ continued to expand its OEM and Enterprise customer base throughout Fiscal 2012, building a foundation for the Company's future. OCZ grew customer base which is highlighted by public collaborations with companies such as Intel, Quanta Computer, Amazon, Drobo, Hitachi, SK communications, NTT, Fujistu, John Hopkins, Colfax, LG Electronics, Wortman, Peer 1, SGI, Olive, Voxel, PSSC Labs, Penguin, Ciaratech, Honda, and Chevron, among numerous others.

Additional Financial Information

To help investors better understand OCZ's historical revenue trends, including geographic revenue by delivery location and revenue by product groups, additional revenue information is shown in the chart below. In addition, the Company has provided an additional market breakout to illustrate our "SAN replacement" products, which are PCIe-based storage solutions targeted at replacing or accelerating Storage Area Networks.

Quarterly net revenue by product groups and major geographic area by delivery location ($000)'s (Unaudited)



The chart below is a summary comparison of GAAP to Non-GAAP measures. Please refer to the following sections below on the calculation and explanation of Non-GAAP financial measures.



Business Outlook and Commentary:

- OCZ expects net revenue for its first fiscal quarter ending May 31, 2012 (Q1'13), to be in the range of $110 to $120 million.

- OCZ expects net revenue for its fiscal year ending February 28, 2013 (FY'13) to be in the range of $630 to $700 million. This represents a growth rate of approximately 80% at the midpoint; we expect, based on historical trends, revenue to be weighted to the second half of the year, with approximately 60% to 65% of revenue to occur in the second half of the year.

- Non-GAAP gross margins are expected to increase slightly for Q1'13 and to exit the year in excess of 30%, with typical sequential gross margin increases of 100 to 250 basis points per quarter throughout the fiscal year, subject to changes in product mix as the SSD landscape continues to evolve.

- OCZ expects non-GAAP operating expenses for Q1'13, to be in the range of $37 to $39 million with expenses exiting the year at between $43 and $47 million per quarter, as OCZ continues to invest in its ongoing growth objectives.

Conference Call:

OCZ will host its fiscal 2012 fourth quarter and year end conference call for the period ended February 29, 2012 at 5:00pm ET (2:00pm PT), on May 1, 2012. Ryan Petersen, CEO, and Arthur Knapp, CFO, will discuss the Company's performance on the call.