Financial News

Alvarion Reports First Quarter 2005 Results

    Download Q1 05 Numbers

TEL AVIV, Israel—May 4, 2005 -- Alvarion Ltd. (NASDAQ: ALVR), the leading provider of wireless broadband solutions worldwide, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2005.

On a GAAP basis, revenue for the first quarter reached a record of $57.2 million, up 2% sequentially from $55.9 million and up 28% from $44.7 million in the first quarter of 2004. Net income was $0.4 million, or $0.01 per share for the quarter, compared with a net loss of $6.8 million or $0.12 cents loss per share in the fourth quarter of 2004 and net income of $1.4 million, or $0.02 per share in the first quarter of 2004. First quarter results included $0.9 million acquisition-related expenses pertaining to the purchase of interWAVE Communications on December 9, 2004, as well as $1.1 million of amortization of intangibles and $0.5 million amortization of deferred stock compensation. Management indicated that any additional acquisition-related charge in Q2 will be minimal.

Excluding amortizations and acquisition-related charges, on a non-GAAP basis, net income was $2.8 million, or $0.04 per share compared with $5.4 million, or $0.08 per share in the prior quarter and $2.1 million, or $0.03 per share in Q1 of 2004.

Gross margin increased to 46% as a result of favorable product mix. Excluding amortizations and acquisition-related expenses mentioned above, operating expenses increased to $24.2 million or 42% of revenue, on a non- GAAP basis, due primarily to the inclusion of interWAVE Communications’ operating expenses for a full quarter.

Comments of Management

“Our team executed very well this quarter on all major objectives - financial, technical, and market development,” said Zvi Slonimsky, CEO of Alvarion. “We are meeting our targets and continue to expect revenue growth of at least 25% this year.

“Demand is strong for both WiMAX and non-WiMAX solutions, and growth in Q1 was broad-based, coming from products for both licensed and license-exempt frequencies. Europe was a particular source of strength again this quarter as a result of increasing demand from independent operators using the 5.4 GHz licensed-exempt band that recently became available throughout Europe. These operators are moving aggressively to fill the holes in DSL coverage and, in turn, are prompting the Tier 1 operators to begin moving as well.

“The integration of interWAVE’s business is progressing according to plan, and we are beginning to expand our pipeline of new opportunities. Based on this we continue to believe that, once we move through the normal sales cycles for this business, we will begin to see more traction during the second half of the year.

“We recently celebrated another important milestone in the widespread adoption of the WiMAX standard when Intel officially launched their Intel PRO/Wireless 5116 chip. Alvarion is the first company to offer a live demonstration of a working CPE, based on the Intel chip, connected to a live operator’s network. This important event took place during the last WiMAX summit in Malaga and is an indication of our time-to-market advantage.

“It was certainly gratifying that most of the operators that participated in the Intel launch event, including Altitude, Iberbanda, and Millicom, are Alvarion customers. Evaluation and trial deployment activity remains brisk, with Alvarion involved in most of the active trials around the world. The scope and duration of these trials up to this point reinforces our belief that our growth will accelerate in the second half of the year.

“We believe that we stand on the threshold of the WiMAX revolution in fixed broadband access, and we look forward to continuing to lead the market for mobile WiMAX through our collaboration with several major partners. We see a bright future for both fixed and mobile applications of this technology,” concluded Mr. Slonimsky.

Guidance

The Company’s revenue guidance for Q2 2005 is $53 million to $58 million. This guidance assumes no substantial contribution from additional orders related to a major customer’s ongoing project due to the difficulty in predicting the precise timing of orders.

At the revenue range above, net earnings per share are expected to range between breakeven and 3 cents while non-GAAP net earnings per share, which excludes amortization of intangibles and acquisition-related charges, is expected to range between 2 and 5 cents.

Alvarion’s management will host a conference call today, May 4, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the quarter. To participate in the call, please dial one of the following numbers approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start time: USA: 612-332-1025; International: +1-612-332-1025.

The public is invited to listen to the live webcast of the conference call. For details please visit Alvarion's website at www.alvarion.com. An archive of the on-line broadcast will be available on the website. A replay of the call will be available from 2:30 p.m. EDT on May 4 through 11:59 p.m. EDT on May 11, 2005. To access the replay, please call USA: 320-365-3844, International: +1-320-365-3844. To access the replay, users will need to enter the following code: 777770.

    Download Q1 05 Numbers

About Alvarion

With more than 2 million units deployed in 130 countries, Alvarion is the worldwide leader in wireless broadband providing systems to carriers, ISPs and private network operators, and also in extending coverage of GSM and CDMA mobile networks to developing countries and other hard to serve areas.

Leading the WiMAX revolution, Alvarion has the most extensive deployments and proven product portfolio in the industry covering the full range of frequency bands with both fixed and mobile solutions. Alvarion’s products enable the delivery of business and residential broadband access, corporate VPNs, toll quality telephony, mobile base station feeding, hotspot coverage extension, community interconnection, public safety communications, and mobile voice and data. Alvarion works with several global OEM providers and more than 200 local partners to support its diverse global customer base in solving their last-mile challenges.

As a wireless broadband pioneer, Alvarion has been driving and delivering innovations for more than ten years from core technology developments to creating and promoting industry standards. Leveraging its key roles in the IEEE and HiperMAN standards committees and experience in deploying OFDM-based systems, the Company's prominent work in the WiMAX Forum is focused on increasing widespread adoption of standards-based products in the wireless broadband market and leading the entire industry to mobile WiMAX solutions.

For more information, visit Alvarion’s World Wide Web site at www.alvarion.com

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the current expectations or beliefs of Alvarion's management and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward -looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: failure of the WiMAX market to develop as anticipated; failure by us to deliver WiMAX products as anticipated; inability to further identify, develop and achieve success for new products, services and technologies; increased competition and its effect on pricing, spending, third-party relationships and revenues; as well as the in ability to establish and maintain relationships with commerce, advertising, marketing, and technology providers and other risks detailed from time to time in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, our limited history in completing acquisitions may adversely impact our ability to successfully integrate the business of Alvarion and interWAVE; we may face liabilities and expenses in excess of those currently anticipated with respect to the acquisition of interWAVE; and we may be unable to retain key personnel of interWAVE.

Certain information set forth in this press release pertaining to third parties has not been independently verified by Alvarion and is based solely on publicly available information or on information provided to Alvarion by such third parties for inclusion in this press release. The web sites appearing in this press release are not and will not be included or incorporated by reference in any filing made by Alvarion with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which this press release will be a part of.

You may request Alvarion's future press releases or a complete Investor Kit by contacting Carmen Deville, Investor Relations: carmen.deville@alvarion.com or +1 650 314 2653.

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