South Africa
Altron recently announced its annual results for the year ended 28 February 2014. Revenue increased by 12% to a record high R27,8 billion, normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 20% to R1,9 billion and normalised headline earnings per share (HEPS) increased by 49% to 206 cents. In light of these positive results, Altron chief executive Robert Venter hailed as a success the company’s recent reorganisation and rebranding exercise.
Avnet Memec announced that it has been appointed as European distributor for Quectel, a specialist in M2M wireless modules. This agreement extends to South Africa, meaning that Avnet’s local subsidiary, Avnet Kopp, is now in a position to distribute Quectel’s product range in the region.
Overseas
Business
Consolidated net sales for Microchip Technology’s fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 were $493,4 million, up 2,3% sequentially and up 14,7% from the prior year’s fourth quarter. Consolidated GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 was $111,5 million, or 50 cents per diluted share. Sales for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2014 were $1,931 billion, an increase of 22,1% from net sales of $1,582 billion in the prior fiscal year. Net income for the year increased steeply, reaching $395,3 million, or $1,82 per diluted share, an increase of 210,3% from net income of $127,4 million, or 62 cents per diluted share in the prior fiscal year.
RF Micro Devices reported financial results for its fiscal 2014 fourth quarter, ended 29 March 2014. March quarterly revenue was $256,0 million, resulting in a quarterly net loss of $16 million, or $0,00 per share. These figures compare to revenue of $280,6 and net loss of $16 million, or $0,06, in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2013.
For Fairchild Semiconductor’s first quarter ended 30 March 2014, sales were $344,1 million, up 1% percent from the prior quarter and slightly higher than the first quarter of 2013. The company reported a first quarter net loss of $9,3 million or $0,07 per diluted share, compared to net income of $0,9 million or $0,01 per diluted share in the prior quarter and a net loss of $0,5 million or $0,00 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2013.
Cree reported revenue of $405,3 million for its third quarter of fiscal 2014. This represents a 16% increase compared to revenue of $348,9 million reported for the third quarter of fiscal 2013. Net income for the third quarter was $28,2 million, or $0,23 per diluted share, an increase of 27% year-over-year. For its fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, the company is targeting revenue in a range of $430 million to $460 million and net income of $28,2 million to $36,3 million.
Revenue for NXP Semiconductors’ first quarter of 2014 came in slightly above the midpoint of the company’s projections at $1,25 billion, a 15% increase year-on-year and a 4% sequential decline. Meanwhile SSMC, NXP’s consolidated joint-venture wafer fab with TSMC, reported first quarter 2014 operating income of $36 million, EBITDA of $48 million and a closing cash balance of $396 million.
STMicroelectronics reported financial results for the first quarter ended 29 March 2014: net revenues totalled $1,83 billion and net loss was $24 million ($0,03 per share). CEO Carlo Bozotti also announced that its general-purpose microcontroller business enjoyed the fourth consecutive quarter of record revenues and that the company has become the second largest player worldwide in microcontrollers, including both general-purpose and secure.
Despite amassing less revenue ($28 million) in the final quarter of its 2014 financial year than in the preceding ($30,7 million) or year-ago ($31,2 million) quarters, Exar still managed to increase its annual revenue by 3% to reach $125,3 million. This resulted in significantly higher annual net income of $5,8 million ($0,12 per diluted share) compared to $2,9 million ($0,06 per diluted share) in 2013.
Companies
Skyworks Solutions has established a joint venture with Panasonic to design, develop and deliver high-performance filters including surface acoustic wave (SAW) and temperature compensated (TC) SAW devices. At the core of the joint venture is Panasonic Filter Division’s engineering and process talent, expertise in filter design and leading edge products as well as 412 fundamental filter patents and patent applications. Skyworks will make a cash payment of $148,5 million to Panasonic for a 66% share of the new venture, with Panasonic retaining 34%.
Agilent Technologies officially named the man who will lead technical development at Keysight Technologies, currently the electronic measurement group within Agilent which will split off from the parent company in August. Jay Alexander, the chief technology officer in waiting, has held numerous leader-ship positions at Agilent, including his most recent role as vice president and general manager for the oscilloscope and protocol division.
Fairchild Semiconductor announced the acquisition of Xsens, a leading global supplier of 3D motion tracking products for the industrial, health, fitness and entertainment markets. The move significantly bolsters Fairchild’s micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)/sensor activities. Xsens will operate as an independent subsidiary and will continue to be headquartered in the Netherlands.
STMicroelectronics and Samsung Electronics announced the signing of a comprehensive agreement on 28 nm fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) technology for multi-source manufacturing collaboration. The licensing accord gives ST access to advanced manufacturing solutions from Samsung’s state-of-the-art 300 mm facilities and secures a source for high-volume production of ST’s FD-SOI technology, which delivers faster, cooler and simpler semiconductor devices for next-generation electronic products, such as mobile and consumer applications.
Exar has, through a wholly owned subsidiary, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Integrated Memory Logic, a provider of analog mixed-signal solutions for the flat panel display market. The unnamed subsidiary will commence a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of iML for a net consideration of $94 million. The acquisition supports Exar’s strategy of building a large scale, diversified analog mixed-signal business.
Industry
The Semiconductor Industry Association announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $78,47 billion during the first quarter of 2014, marking the industry’s highest-ever first quarter sales. Global sales reached $26,16 billion for the month of March 2014, an increase of 11,4% from March 2013 and a slight uptick of 0,4% compared to the previous month’s total of $26,04 billion. Regionally, year-to-year sales increased in the Americas (16,1%), Asia Pacific (12,9%), Europe (8%) and Japan (0,4%), marking the first time in more than three years that year-to-year sales increased across all regions.
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