LONDON — Sales at near-field communications company Innovision Research and Technology plc (Cirencester, England) collapsed in the financial year that ended March 31, 2009 partly because of changes at a key customer, the company said believed to be NXP BV (Eindhoven, The Netherlands). Nonetheless the company expressed optimism that 2010 would see chip projects brought to market.
Innovision's full-year sales fell to £1.2 million (about $2 million), down by 65 percent from £3.4 million in the previous year (about $5.6 million). The company made a net loss of £2.6 million (about $4.3 million), an increase from the loss of £2.0 million (about $3.3 million) made the year before.
"We are pleased to have made significant strategic advances although we are clearly disappointed at the delays affecting the financial results. Licensing our NFC IP to some of the largest global semiconductor companies and signing our first major RFID development contract in China has put the company in a strong position from which to move forward and continue successfully investing in these markets," said David Wollen, chief executive officer in a statement.
During the year the net value of the company as a whole declined from £7.8 million to £5.3 million and cash on hand declined from £5.6 million to £3.6 million, the company said.
"The semiconductor industry has been greatly affected by the current general economic conditions and most of the major semiconductor companies who are our customers and prospects have been affected by mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations and redundancies. As reported in the interim statement, significant changes within one major customer's own business led to an unexpected shortfall in development programs and a delay in license revenue. That shortfall continued through the full year as the customer's problems worsened and management changes ensued. We now believe the customer will continue to play a leading role in the industry and we have just concluded a joint marketing and license deal to capture the opportunities that exist to now take our combined offerings to market," the company said in a statement attributed to both the chairman and chief executive officer.
Related links and articles:
www.innovision-group.com
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