Investors

Strong financial and operational progress; positive medium-term outlook

Sondrel (Holdings) plc (AIM:SND), the fabless semiconductor business providing turnkey services in the design and delivery of 'application specific integrated circuits' ("ASICs") and 'system on chips' ("SoCs") for leading global technology brands, is pleased to announce its results for the half year to 30 June 2023 (the ‘Period’ or ‘H1 2023’).

Financial Highlights

• Revenue up 17% to £9.3 million (H1 22: £8.0 million)
• ASIC revenue growth of 50% YoY to £8.1 million, representing 87% of total revenues (H1 22: £5.4m, 68%)
• Adjusted EBITDA increased 33% to £0.4 million (H1 22: £0.3 million)
• Loss Before Tax of £2.0 million (H1 22: £1.5 million)
• Cash balance at period end £0.1 million (H1 22: £(0.7) million)

Operational Highlights

• Strong growth in ASIC revenues with first ASIC devices delivered to lead customers across high growth megatrend sectors including AI, smartphones and home networks
• Three ASIC chip designs taped out, delivering initial NRE (non-recurring engineering) revenues
• Good progress made on the Group’s engagement for a Tier 1 OEM Automotive customer with key milestones being achieved
• Investment in US sales organisation, increasing the headcount and opening an office in Santa Clara
• Appointment of new sales partner in US
• Signed multi-year partnership extension with Synopsys, the American electronic design automation company, for its state-of-the-art EDA tools
• Additional software contract extension was also signed with blue-chip technology giant, Siemens, in April 2023 for the continued use of its Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software

Post Period End Highlights

• Appointment of industry veteran Anthony Fernandez as Chief Operating Officer
• Appointment of Oliver Jones as Vice-President of Strategic Sales in US
• Appointment of highly experienced Nick Stone as Interim Chief Financial Officer 
• Silicon prototypes delivered for three ASIC projects

Outlook

• Continued momentum in the US with 15 potential customers in the pipeline, representing substantial design and prototype revenues over the next few years 
• The Board remains confident that the Company will deliver performance in the FY23 full year in line with current market expectations as revised on 31 August 2023
• Notwithstanding H2 2023 delays and the consequential impact on previously anticipated ramp up as we enter FY 2024, increasing traction in the important US market, strong sales pipeline and positive ongoing relationships with our existing ASIC customers provides the Board with continued confidence in the Group’s medium-term targets.

Graham Curren, Chief Executive Officer of Sondrel, commented:

"I am pleased with our performance in the first half, notwithstanding increasingly challenging market conditions during the period.  Significant progress was achieved in key areas that will grow our business in the medium term, namely the successful tapeouts of three designs, progress with our Tier 1 OEM automotive customer, real progress in the United States and increased customer production forecasts for our live ASIC projects in Europe. 

“Although the customer delays will moderate growth in the near-term, we are focused on delivering in line with our growth strategy and remain well positioned to meet our medium-term objective of delivering revenues in excess of £100m per annum.” 

Analyst presentation

There will be an in-person presentation for analysts at 9:30 a.m. (BST) today.  If you would like to join, please contact Buchanan at [email protected]

This announcement contains inside information as stipulated under the UK version of the Market Abuse Regulation No 596/2014 which is part of English Law by virtue of the European (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended.  On publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this information is considered to be in the public domain.

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About Sondrel

Sondrel is a UK-based fabless semiconductor company specialising in high end, complex digital Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and System on Chips (SoCs). It provides a full turnkey service in the design, prototyping, testing, packaging and production of ASICs and SoCs.

The Company is one of only a few companies capable of designing and supplying the higher-spec chips built on the most advanced semiconductor technologies, selling into a range of hyper growth end markets such as high-performance computing, automotive, artificial intelligence, VR/AR, video analytics, image processing, mobile networking and data centres.  Sondrel designs have enabled products by leading technology brands including Apple (iPhone), Sony (PlayStation), Meta's (Oculus), Samsung, Google and Sony smartphones, JVC (prosumer camcorders), Tesla and Mercedes-Benz cars.

Sondrel is well-established, with a 20-year track record of successful delivery, supported by long standing ecosystem partnerships including Arm, TSMC and Samsung. Headquartered in the UK, Sondrel has a global presence with offices in UK, USA, China, India and Morocco.

For more information please visit: ir.sondrel.com.