LONDON – Processor IP licensor ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England) has posted yet another quarter with increased sales and profits.
As it announced its 2Q12 financial results ARM highlighted that it shipped 2 billion chips in the quarter, up 9 percent compared with 2Q11 while industry shipments of chips overall are down 4 percent and that processor royalties were up 14 percent compared with 2Q11 compared with a decline of industry revenues of 7 percent.
The company's revenues in the second quarter of 2012 were $213.0 million up 1.7 percent from the previous quarter and up 12 percent on sales of $190.2 million achieved in 2Q11. The 2Q12 pre-tax quarterly profit rose to £66.5 million (about $103 million) up from £61.9 million (about $96 million) in the previous quarter and up from £50.7 million (about $80 million) in the second quarter of 2011.
The company's share price in London climbed by about 5 percent on opening after the announcement of the financial results.
"ARM's royalty revenues continued to outperform the overall semiconductor industry as our customers gained market share within existing markets and launched products which are taking ARM technology into new markets. This quarter we have seen multiple market leaders announce exciting new products including computers and servers from Dell and Microsoft, and embedded applications from Freescale and Toshiba," said Warren East, CEO of ARM, in a statement.
For the outlook East said ARM enters 2H12 with a record order backlog. ARM's shipments in the second quarter indicate that the company will achieve a small sequential increase in royalty revenue in 3Q12. East said that 4Q12 is harder to predict due to macroeconomic uncertainty may impact consumer confidence. He noted that some analysts have become less optimistic about the semiconductor industry outlook for 2H12.
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