Even after stripping out a raft of exceptionals, audio chip specialist Wolfson's underlying operating loss still grew to $7.5m (£4.7m) in 2011, from 2010's $1.5m loss. But design win momentum has continued - the group secured an impressive 382 design-ins during 2011, up from 359 last year, and chief executive Mike Hickey expects a "step up" in revenue this year.
The launch of 24 new products has helped Wolfson broaden its market penetration, and Mr Hickey says most of the new wins are in high growth end markets such as mobile phones and tablets. In fact, sales from the audio products side grew 19 per cent year-on-year to $105.4m and now account for more than two-thirds of group sales. This helped offset weakness in the discrete and power management products unit, where revenues slumped 26 per cent to $50.9m. The group has re-allocated resources from that weaker unit to the audio division in order to better capitalise on growth opportunities. Moreover, $6m has been cut from annual costs and the supply chain has been rationalised - which helped restore the group's gross margin to 49.5 per cent, from 47 per cent last year.
Citigroup expects an adjusted pre-tax profit of $1.9m for 2012, giving adjusted EPS of 1.2¢.
WOLFSON MICROELECTRONICS (WLF) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 153p | MARKET VALUE: | £178m | |
| TOUCH: | 153-154p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 314p | LOW: 96p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 122¢ | NET CASH: | $53.4m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 232 | 40.8 | 25.1 | nil |
| 2008 | 198 | 10.6 | 6.50 | nil |
| 2009 | 121 | -14.8 | -8.90 | nil |
| 2010 | 157 | -11.2 | -5.71 | nil |
| 2011** | 157 | -24.1 | -15.4 | nil |
| % change | - | - | - | - |
Ex-div:- Payment:- *Includes intangible assets of $32.8m, or 28¢ a share **Year to 1 Jan 2012 £1=$1.58 | ||||
