GARCHING (dpa-AFX) - The semiconductor supplier Süss Microtec has raised its outlook for the year as a whole following significant growth in the first half of the year. The management raised its expectations for all key figures: Sales, gross margin and also operating profit margin are expected to be higher than previously thought. The SDax-listed share recovered noticeably on Friday from the setbacks of the past few days.

The share price rose by 15 percent to EUR 64.90 after the start of trading. Just last week, the share price had reached a record high of 70.70 euros, but then fell back significantly. This year, however, the share has still more than doubled in value, and over a period of five years the share price has increased almost sevenfold in investors' portfolios.

The Suess management now expects annual sales of 380 to 410 million euros, as the company announced in Garching the previous evening. Previously, the target was 340 to 370 million euros. Analysts had previously expected less than the lower end of the new range.

The gross margin is expected to be in a range of 38 to 40 percent instead of the previously targeted 35 to 38 percent. It indicates how much of the sales price is left over after deducting the cost of sales, excluding administrative and distribution costs. Before interest and taxes, 14 to 16 percent of sales should remain as operating profit. Süss had previously expected an operating margin of 10 to 12 percent.

In the second quarter, turnover rose by a third to 99.3 million euros compared to the same period last year. Based on preliminary figures, the gross margin reached 40.5 percent after 34.4 percent a year earlier. The operating margin (EBIT) amounted to 15.3% - compared to 7.4% a year ago. The company will present its detailed figures on August 7.

Suess supplies the chip industry with various machines for the production of semiconductors. In particular, the "temporary bonding" process for chip manufacturers has recently generated a high level of orders. In this process, a chip wafer - a silicon wafer - is temporarily fixed to a second wafer and then detached from it again after grinding. Süss also offers machines for connecting memory chips to logic chips./men/mis/stk