Fabless semiconductor designer Sondrel (Holdings) PLC took a beating on the junior market on Thursday after disclosing a trio of project delays for its bespoke application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designs.
Three of Sondrel’s ASICs customers have pushed their deliveries back between six to 12 months, citing increasing inflation and decreasing end-market demand for Sondrel’s technology.
As a result of these project delays, Sondrel conceded that full-year revenues will be “substantially below current market expectations”, with a corresponding impact on full-year losses.
However, interim results are expected to show steady year-on-year growth.
Per today’s trading update, Sondrel expects to report first-half unaudited revenues of £9.3 million, a 17% increase year on year, with underlying earnings of £400,000, compared to £100,000 in the first half of 2022.
Chief executive Graham Curren commented: "Whilst it is disappointing that the scheduled production dates for three of our upcoming ASIC projects have moved out, the increased aggregate production volumes for live ASIC projects are clearly positive for Sondrel and we are confident about our revenue and profitability in 2024 and beyond.
"Our increasing traction in the important US market, strong sales pipeline and positive ongoing relationships with our existing ASIC customers provides us with great confidence in our medium-term target to grow revenues to over £100m and we will ensure that we keep updating shareholders as we make progress towards this goal."
The market reacted negatively to the news, sending shares 60% lower to 22.65p.