Chip machinery maker ASML booked record sales of €3.8bn in 2007, with net profit totalling €688, the company announced on Wednesday.

The results were better than analysts had expected. Nevertheless, gloomy prognoses from sector peer Intel depressed trading in semiconductor stocks. ASML’s share price fell some 7% in early trading.
ASML chairman Eric Meurice told reporters that the order books for the first three quarters of 2008 were well-filled. ‘The semiconductor sector was under pressure worldwide… but we succeeded in ending the year with record sales and earnings,’ he said.