Soitec 2007/08 sales down 19.8 pct, keeps forecasts

PARIS, April 14 (Reuters) - French silicon specialist Soitec SA (SOIT.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday its full year 2007/08 sales fell 19.8 percent due to weak demand, and it kept its forecast of an operating loss of around 3 percent of total sales.

Soitec, a supplier of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers to semiconductor groups, said sales in the year ended March 31, 2008 fell to 298.2 million euros from 372 million in FY 2006/07.

In the fourth quarter alone, sales fell 32.3 percent to 65.7 million euros.

Soitec reports full year 2007/08 earnings on May 19.

When it warned over its earnings outlook in February, Soitec had notably blamed delayed orders from top customers Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

For the current 2008/09 fiscal year, Soitec said it was keeping a scenario of "quasi flat" sales at constant currencies. (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by David Cowell)