Dutch semiconductor tech company ASML reports profit

Dutch company ASML, a key supplier of computer chip-making systems, said Wednesday it had turned last year's losses into a 107-million-euro first quarter net profit, predicting record 2010 sales.

The figure was up from a loss of 117.2 million euros (160 million dollars) reported in the first quarter of 2009, and a 151-million-euro net loss for 2009.

In the fourth quarter of last year, the company had booked a 50-million-euro profit.

"Our first quarter 2010 sales rose to above 740 million euros and bookings came in at 1 billion euros, in line with our expectations and adding confidence in a prolonged recovery of the semiconductor industry," ASML chief executive Eric Meurice said in a statement.

He added the company was "on a track to 2010 full-year sales above our 2007 peak of 3.8 billion euros."

Second quarter sales were expected to total about a billion euros.

The company has about 6,500 employees in 15 countries. It claims to be the world's leading provider of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry, manufacturing machines for the production of integrated circuits or chips.

(c) 2010 AFP