After nearly 25 years of ups and downs on the stock market, compound semiconductor wafer supplier IQE (IQE:AIM) is at a real low point.

The shares are trading at their lowest level in more than 15 years, after the company announced it would look to raise £15 million from its largest shareholder Lombard Odier as it carries out a strategic review from which one of the options is putting its Taiwan operation up for sale.

The company said revenue for 2024 would be flat at £115 million and that, even on the generous measure of adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) it would make just £5 million – suggesting a loss-making second half after it posted £6.6 million of EBITDA in the first half.

A wafer is a thin slice of semiconductor material used in fabricating integrated circuits. The wafer serves as a base for a microchip, and IQE’s wafers are used in everything from smartphones to electric vehicles and renewable energy systems.

However, the company’s limited scale and relatively lowly position in the food chain of a cyclical industry have made for uneven sales and it has consistently racked up losses at the pre-tax level in recent years.

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