FEI COMPANY SECOND QUARTER EARNINGS TO BE BELOW EXPECTATIONS HILLSBORO, Ore., June 29 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- FEI Company (Nasdaq: FEIC) today announced that its net sales and net income for the quarter ending June 30, 1998 would be higher than the first quarter of 1998 but below current market expectations. Vahe' Sarkissian, President and CEO indicated that net sales for the quarter would most likely be between $42 and $43 million, about $3-4 million below market expectations of $46 million, with earnings per share in the range of $0.05-$0.07, or about $0.05-$0.07 below market expectations of $0.12 per share. The company plans to release final second quarter revenue and earnings results during the week of July 27, 1998. "Although our second quarter results will increase over Q-1, our business has been affected by the current slowdown in the industry," said Sarkissian. "Having completed the combination of PEO and FEI businesses, we will now move more aggressively to scale our costs and improve our efficiencies in the organization while continuing to invest in product development and customer support." The matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: business conditions and growth in the electronics, life sciences and material sciences industries and the general economy, both domestic and international; lower than expected customer orders; competitive factors, including pricing pressures, technological developments and products offered by competitors; technological difficulties and resource constraints in developing new products; and the timely flow of competitive new products and market acceptance of those products. Founded in 1971, FEI Company is a leading supplier of scanning electron microscopes, focused ion beam instruments, transmission electron microscopes, and components for submicron-level imaging, analysis, modification and fabrication to semiconductor, magnetic media and analytical laboratories worldwide. In 1997, FEI tripled in size when it combined operations with Philips Electron Optics. Philips Industrial Electronics International B.V. owns 55% of the new company's common stock. FIB workstations are used primarily in the semiconductor industry for design modification, failure analysis and process analysis. Major users of transmission electron microscopes and scanning electron microscopes are research institutes, hospitals, universities, and industrial customers in semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, metals, and mining. FEI has approximately 1,000 employees worldwide, with manufacturing in the U.S. and Europe. SOURCE: FEI Company CONTACT: William Langley, Chief Financial Officer of FEI Company, 503-640-7537Web site: http://www.feic.com