CAMTEK ANNOUNCES FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR 2008 FINANCIAL RESULTS

MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel – March 5, 2009 – Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ and TASE: CAMT), today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2008.

Fourth Quarter 2008 Results
Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2008 totaled $12.4 million, 41% below the $21.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, and a 35% decline from the $19.1 million in the third quarter of 2008.Gross profit margin for the fourth quarter of 2008 was 24%, compared to 43.7% for the fourth quarter of 2007, and 34.2% for the third quarter of 2008. Loss before tax for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $4.9 million. This compares to income before tax of $0.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2007. For the previous quarter in 2008, loss before tax was $4.0 million.

Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2008 totaled $5.5 million, or $0.19 loss per share, compared to a net income of $29 thousand, or $0.00 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2007. Net loss in the third quarter of 2008 totaled $4.1 million, or $0.14 per share. The net loss for the fourth quarter of 2008 resulted mainly from: (a) the decrease in revenues; (b) a $1.3 million inventory and equipment write-off; and (c) legal fees related to the lawsuit filed by Rudolph Technologies against Camtek.
Net, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at the end of December 31, 2008, totaled $14.4 million, compared to $17.1 million at the end of September 30, 2008

Full Year 2008 Results
Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2008, increased 6.3% to $75.5 million, compared to $71.0 million reported for the year ended December 31, 2007. Gross profit margin for 2008 was 37%, compared to 40.9% in 2007. Net loss for 2008 was $9.6 million, or $0.32 per share, compared to a net loss of $7.7 million, or $0.25 per share, for 2007. Net loss for 2008 resulted mainly from: (a) a $4.4 million inventory and equipment write off; and (b) legal and professional fees with respect to the lawsuit mentioned above, and a potential acquisition that Camtek has pursued but decided to abort during the third quarter of 2008

“As part of the electronics industry supply chain, we are impacted by the global recession,” said Rafi Amit, Camtek’s CEO. “Realizing the dramatic decline in equipment utilization in most of our customers’ production lines, we took strict cost cutting measures, restructuring the Company to the new market reality. These measures included among others, a reduction of around 25% in payroll expenses. The new structure still ensures our ability to support our customers by providing advanced solutions and close technical support. We believe that our current cash and active inventory, along with the leaner organization, will carry us through the downturn period and enable us to emerge from it a stronger and more competitive company.”
Mr. Amit concluded, “The current lack of visibility does not allow us to provide any outlook for the current year or even for the first quarter, as delivery dates and revenue recognition status are still quite fluid."

Conference Call
Camtek will host a conference call today, March 5, at 10:00 a.m. EST. Rafi Amit, Chief Executive Officer, Mira Rosenzweig, Chief Financial Officer and Roy Porat, General Manager Camtek Israel, will host the call and will be available to answer questions after presenting the results.

To participate, please call one of the following telephone numbers at least 10 minutes before the start of the call, referencing the “Camtek fourth quarter 2008 results conference call”.
US toll free:      1 866 345 5855           at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Israel toll free:   03 918 0650                at 5:00 p.m. Israel Time
International:      +972 3 918 0650

For those unable to participate, the teleconference will be available for replay on Camtek’s website www.camtek.co.il beginning 24 hours after the call.

ABOUT CAMTEK LTD.
With headquarters in Migdal Ha’Emek Israel, Camtek Ltd., designs, develops, manufactures, and markets automatic optical inspection systems and related products. Camtek’s automatic inspection systems are used to enhance both production processes and yield for manufacturers in the printed circuit board industry, the high density interconnect substrate industry and the semiconductor manufacturing and packaging industry.
This press release is available at www.camtek.co.il

Contact Details
CAMTEK
Mira Rosenzweig CFO
Tel: +972-4-604-8308
Fax: +972-4-604 8300
Mobile: +972-54-9050703
mirar@camtek.co.il

IR INTERNATIONAL
GK International IR
Ehud Helft / Kenny Green
Tel: (US) 1 646 201 9246
info@gkir.com

This press release may contain projections or other forward-looking [state]ments regarding future events or the future performance of the Company. These [state]ments are only predictions and may change as time passes. We do not assume any obligation to update that information. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected, including as a result of changing industry and market trends, reduced demand for our products, the timely development of our new products and their adoption by the market, increased competition in the industry, price reductions as well as due to risks identified in the documents filed by the Company with the SEC.

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