Semtech shows $9.5M profit in Q4
Fresh off a $180 million, all-cash buyout of another chipmaker, Camarillo-based Semtech turned in a $9.5 million profit on $85 million in revenue for the fourth quarter March 10, up from $6.3 million the year before.
Semtech makes chips for the popular BlackBerry phones and other high-end mobile devices. The fourth-quarter profit was up from a $21 million loss in the third quarter. That loss came from tax accounting adjustments the company had to make when it moved $180 million in cash from offshore accounts to purchase chipmaker Sierra Monolithics, a deal that closed in December.
Semtech’s fourth fiscal quarter ended Jan. 31. The company said it expects first-quarter revenue to increase 7 to 13 percent from the fourth quarter’s $85 million, which was up sharply from the year before after the addition of Sierra’s sales.
“Semtech continues to perform superbly,” Mohan Maheswaran, Semtech’s chief executive, said in a release. “As we enter [fiscal year 2011], our 50th anniversary as a company, we see the demand across all our product groups and all target segments strengthen.”
Semtech still had $162.2 million in cash on the balance sheet at Jan. 31, down from $316.3 million the quarter before the cash payment to acquire Sierra.
On March 2, Semtech boosted Maheswaran’s base salary from $410,050 to $450,000 effective March 2. Maheswaran’s total pay for 2009 was $3 million. The firm also said James Schraith, finance committee chair of its board of directors, will retire this year after 15 years on the board.
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