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Semiconductor materials provider IQE swung to a loss as the Covid-19 crisis hurt demand for semiconductor components. The company said, however, that trading in the first quarter was 'slightly' higher than its internal expectations.
For the year ended 31 December 2019, the company reported a pre-tax loss of £24.9m compared with a profit of £6.7m on-year as revenue fell 10.4% to £140.0m.
The decline in revenues was primarily driven by a fall in demand from a major wireless customer and from a major photonics customer.
The company said it had significant liquidity to navigate downside scenarios and said it anticipated spending of up to £10m on capitalised intangibles in 2020, but spending on investment in property plant & equipment would 'significantly' reduce to under £10m.
'Looking at this year, I am pleased to report that Q1 2020 trading was slightly higher than our internal expectations and the outlook for Q2 remains positive at this time,' the company said.
'Given the unprecedented levels of uncertainty, we are unable to provide explicit guidance at this point in time. However, in line with the trading update on 24 March trading so far in 2020 has been in line with previous expectations, and the outlook for Q2 2020 remains positive,' it added.
At 8:16am: (LON:IQE) Iqe PLC share price was +1.74p at 40.74p