Chip industry supplier ASM International, which is under siege from activist shareholders, booked net profit of €12.6m in the first quarter of 2008, down 35% on the previous three months.

Turnover fell 17% to €197m.
The company’s front-end unit, which makes machinery for the first stage in chip production, booked a loss of €1.1m, compared with net profit of €3.4m in the earlier quarter.
CEO Chuck del Prado said the company had to deal with a continuous difficult market and that the front-end unit would also be under pressure in the second quarter.
Asset manager Hermes and hedge fund Fursa hold a combined 25% of ASMI’s shares and will use the May 21 AGM to try to force Del Prado to quit.