ParthusCeva reports $1.1m loss for third quarter

PARTHUSCEVA, the microchip designer, has reported a net loss for the third quarter of its financial year to the end of September.

The company is a global leader in the area of licensing Digital Signal Processor (DSP) cores and solutions to the semiconductor market.

Its third quarter net loss of $1.1m was a drop from net income of $32,000 during the corresponding period last year. However, the figure included a restructuring charge of $1.4m.

Total revenue for the period increased from $9.1m at the same time last year to $9.3m. Licensing revenue rose from $6.3m last year to $6.5m.

Royalty revenues increased from $854,000 in the second quarter to $1.2m, while gross margins were 85% in the latest quarter, compared to 82% in the second quarter.

Group chief executive, Chet Silvestri pointed to the revenue growth and increase in royalty revenues as positive outlooks for the company going forward.

"We look forward, in the fourth quarter, to maintaining our business momentum and launching our next generation DSP architecture, which we believe will deliver breakthrough levels of performance and scalability to our customers," Mr Silvestri said.

Another highlight for ParthusCeva was that it signed five new licensing agreements over the quarter with some of the biggest names in the semiconductor sector, including Infineon, Renasas, Via Telecom and STMicroelectronics. The agreements cover a range of DSP and platform-IP technologies.

"The continued strong growth in royalty revenues is reflective of strong industry uptake of our DSP technology and reflects an increased number of our licensees successfully shipping solutions powered by our technology, predominantly in the wireless sector," Mr Silvestri said.

He added that as the industries in which ParthusCeva licenses its technology are experiencing a period of slow growth, it could continue to negatively impact the company's business and operating results leading mainly to lower prices, lower revenue and a loss of sales.