IQE PLC on Tuesday said its loss widened substantially in its latest half-year as its revenue decreased by over £30.0 million, but said it expects to resume profitability at the end of the year.
The Cardiff, Wales-based compound semiconductor wafer product supplier said its pretax loss for the first half of 2023 was £21.5 million, widened from £8.5 million the year before.
Revenue for the period decreased 41% to £52.0 million from £86.2 million, and IQE’s basic and diluted loss per share widened to 2.57 pence from 1.03p. IQE swung to an adjusted loss before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation of £5.7 million from earnings of £12.3 million.
‘IQE has delivered [first-half] revenue in line with our revised market guidance,’ said Chief Executive Officer Americo Lemos. ‘In a challenging macro environment, we have taken decisive action to manage costs and deliver immediate efficiencies and longer-term margin benefits.’
IQE said Ebitda was ‘adversely affected’ by reduced sales, particularly in its Wireless business where revenue fell by 52% to £22.4 million from £46.6 million due largely to weaker demand for handsets. Revenue in its Phototonics business decreased 27% to £28.0 million from £38.5 million.
In the second half of 2023, IQE said it expects to deliver double-digit revenue growth and to achieve profitability at the adjusted Ebitda level. It said the global semiconductor industry is stabilising with ‘pockets of recovery’ expected in the current half, and that it expects further improvement in 2024 ‘as the supply chain normalises and customer demand recovers.’
‘We are accelerating our diversification strategy with new customer designs...and broadening our market penetration into the China wireless market,’ Lemos added. ‘By expanding our customer base across the breadth of our product portfolio and ramping in strategic growth areas, we are focused on improving future business performance.’
IQE shares were up 1.6% at 16.72p on Tuesday in London.
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