Camtek Ltd (CAMT) to Reorganize Functional Inkjet Technology Operations

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ: CAMT: CAMT) announced a decision to reorganize its current mode of operation with respect to its functional inkjet technology (FIT) activity.

As part of this change, Camtek will cease supporting the four Gryphon systems currently installed at customer sites, and will re-focus on creating the next generation of digital printer. This will allow Camtek to significantly reduce the run-rate of this activity from $5.5 million to approximately $2.5 million, annually. Camtek estimates that the development of the next generation printer will take approximately 18 months.

Rafi Amit, Camtek's Chairman and CEO, commented, "Based on feedback we gathered from the four customers that have been evaluating the Gryphon system and in order to increase the addressable market, we have decided that there is a need for a significant redesign of the system, the process and the ink. This will enable us to better gear the technology to market requirements. Our contacts with customers and potential customers over the past few years, underscore that there is a huge market opportunity, and we continue to believe that the digital printing technology is superior to the current processes used by the PCB industry, and that it is ultimately the future for this industry. At the same time, we realize that the penetration process and market education will take longer than previously anticipated."

Continued Mr. Amit, "Our decision to cease supporting our four current Gryphon systems and focus on the development of the next generation of digital printer will allow us, once the development is completed, to return to the market more effectively. Additionally, our FIT team will operate much more efficiently, as their efforts will focus solely on pure R&D activities without the need to support systems at distant customer sites. During this period, we will also continue our efforts to seek a strategic investor and build alliances with leading ink manufactures."

"The action we are taking today, will significantly reduce our annual operating expenses related to our FIT activity, from approximately $5.5 million to about $2.5 million," concluded Mr. Amit.

Camtek is in a process of evaluating the implications of this decision on certain assets and liabilities on its balance sheet. In addition to these implications, we expect to record one-time re-structuring costs of $300-400 thousand. All financial related implications will be recorded in the third quarter financial results.

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