Sondrel reports strong growth in first update since IPO

Fabless semiconductor specialist Sondrel reported revenue growth of 116% year-on-year in a trading update on Wednesday, with 2022 revenue totalling £17.5m.

The AIM-traded firm said it also received record new orders, with growth of more than 130% over the prior year providing it with strong visibility over 2023 revenue.

Additionally, the company said it achieved its maiden post-IPO design tape-out for a leading provider of edge AI hardware accelerator solutions in January.

During 2022 and the start of 2023, the board said significant progress was made on a material turnkey ASIC engagement it secured in the second quarter of 2022 for a tier-1 OEM automotive customer.

New design wins were in line with board expectations, delivering a strong increase in the pipeline for volume supply.

Looking ahead, Sondrel said it had a “strong” design pipeline for 2023.

“In our first trading statement since our initial public offering I'm pleased to report that we have delivered strong revenue growth, with design wins in line with our expectations,” said chief executive officer Graham Curren.

“We have started to deliver on our growth strategy as set out at our IPO and progress has already been made in expanding our operations in the United States.

“I'm especially pleased to see such a strong adoption of our ASIC services by customers, old and new, as evidenced by the recently announced tape-out of an edge AI ASIC project, production for which is potentially worth $20m to the group over three years.”

In addition, Curren said the firm’s engagement with a new company to finalise its ASIC design and tape-out demonstrated the “strength” of its offering.

“Many of our customers are increasingly optimistic about their market opportunities and I am looking forward to working with them to deliver significant production volumes as we seek to achieve our medium term target of revenues of over £100m.”

At 1629 GMT, shares in Sondrel Holdings were down 7.44% at 56p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.