Arm Holdings shrugs off Apple woes to report soaring profits
Arm Holdings has reported profits and sales soaring by double-digit figures, as the UK chip maker shrugs off the sector’s woes.
The figures
Arm posted full-year revenue of £968.3m for 2015, up by 22 per cent from £795.2m the year before.
Pre-tax profits were up 31 per cent to £414.8m, from £316.5m last year.
The firm’s earnings per share landed on 23.9 pence, up 33 per cent from 18 pence.
Arm shipped some 4bn chips last year, up 16 per cent year-on-year.
Why it’s interesting
It’s not easy being a chip maker when smartphone sales growth looks to be stalling.
Rival Imagination Technologies warned earlier this week it would making an annual loss this year.
And Arm hasn’t been unaffected by the sector’s woes either, as it’s share price took a hit over Apple’s warning that iPhone sales are about to decline for the first time ever.
But to stay afloat, Arm has shifted its focus increasingly to connected devices, with 55 per cent of its shipments last year for non-mobile users. And the strategy certainly seems successful, with double-digit profit growth.
What they said
Simon Segars, Arm’s chief executive, said:
Demand for our technology is increasing, and during the quarter we signed multiple licences for the next generation of high-performance and secure Arm processors.
Our increased investments in both 2015 and 2016 will help us meet demand by extending the capabilities of our technology and the ecosystem, and will support long-term growth and returns for shareholders.