A mixed trading statement from Imagination Technologies has done little to reassure nervous shareholders. The chip designer's shares have already fallen by a third so far this month, reflecting caution over consumer electronics spending and a poor read-across from licensee Texas Instruments' profit warning. Now Imagination says it has signed only one new license deal in its second half, with slow sales of high-end mobile phones and its Pure digital radios.
"It is possible for the worsening global macro economic environment to have some impact on our progress towards the end of the financial year," says Imagination's trading statement, while acknowledging good progress in key aspects of its chips business in the first nine months of its financial year. Imagination has extended its year-end to 30 April, to try to avoid a first-quarter squeeze on licence deals, which has caused delays to hitting numbers in the past.