Parthus makes further inroads in core licensing

Parthus makes further inroads in core licensing
By Chris Edwards, EE Times UK
January 31, 2002 (7:38 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020130S0009

Irish intellectual property (IP) company Parthus Technologies saw fourth quarter 2001 sales climb 13% from the year before to $10.5m. But licensing and royalties were up 70% as the company shifted its business away from design services.

For the full year, sales grew from $31.9m to $40.9m. Gross margin grew to 75% in Q4 but the the company's net loss increased from $2.9m to $8.1m. For the full year, the net loss increased 217% to $34.7m, with the company incurring heavy writedowns on the R&D and goodwill of acquired companies.

However, the company's R&D expenses also increased year-on-year. In Q4, the total spent on R&D was 73% of the company's total revenues but the amount spent fell $100 000 sequentially.

Although spending increased, Elaine Coughlan, chief financial officer, says she is confident the company will return to profitability in the second half of this year.

She pointed to the increases in licensing activity and improvi ng gross margins because of the company's shift away from design services to IP licensing. However, gross margins are calculated before the costs of R&D and sales expenses are taken into account.

The company's royalty revenue rose 55% during Q4 to £115 000, accounting for 1% of the company's business. IP licensing and royalty revenue rose to 83% of total sales in Q4, up from 73% in Q3 and 55% a year ago.

Spending on sales activities went up sequentially because, the company claimed, a number of meetings took place in Q4 that were deferred from Q3.

In Q4, Parthus signed Fujitsu and Sharp Microelectronics as licensees for its IP. The company said it also signed a deal with an unnamed mobile handset company for its NavStream core, which implements location services.