November 18, 2008

St Peters, MO, USA: MEMC Provides Fourth Quarter Financial Update

MEMC Electronic Materials yesterday provided an update to its fourth quarter financial targets.

MEMC now anticipates revenue for the 2008 fourth quarter to be approximately $500 million, plus or minus $25 million, with gross margin of approximately 48%, plus or minus two percentage points, and operating expenses of approximately $27 million. This compares to the company's previously announced targets of $540-$600 million in revenue with gross margin of over 50% and operating expenses of approximately $41 million.

The decrease in targeted operating expenses is due to the decrease in stock compensation expense resulting from the forfeiture of option grants in connection with the decision of the company's former Chief Executive Officer, Nabeel Gareeb, to step down from his positions with the Company.

Marshall Turner, Interim Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The weak macroeconomic environment has continued to deteriorate, and has had an increasingly negative effect on the semiconductor and solar markets over the past few weeks. These effects are quickly cascading backward through global supply chains, and we cannot expect to be immune to the impact on our customers in all the markets we serve. This recent sequence of events has increased pricing pressure in the short term solar market and exacerbated the demand weakness in the semiconductor market. We expect to use our increased polysilicon production in the fourth quarter to offset some of the effects of this reduced pricing through increased wafer sales. Given these variables and the rapidly evolving macroeconomic environment, we are maintaining a wide range of financial targets to indicate our current understanding of these uncertain market conditions. Even in this type of environment, the business model MEMC has put in place over the past few years is enabling us to demonstrate healthy financial metrics relative to our peers."

Further details about: MEMC