Free-fall at BlackBerry and a 'volatile' smartphone market pushed microchip maker Wolfson to an operating loss of $8.4m in the fourth quarter, the company revealed today.
The FTSE 250-listed company, which supplies microchips for smartphones, tablets and other consumer electronics, warned in October that cancellations at a “major customer” would hit revenues, a reference analysts took to mean BlackBerry.
Revenue at the Edinburgh-based company fell to $42m in the quarter, from $56.1 million a year earlier. Full-year revenue was also flat at $179.4m and Wolfson’s losses widened to $20.3m.
Chief executive Mike Hickey said he was "disappointed" with the results, saying: “Strong sales in the first half [were] offset by a weaker second half performance.
“This was caused by a faster-than-anticipated transition from 3G to 4G (LTE) smartphones and a very volatile market environment.”
Yesterday microchip designer ARM, whose chips are included in around 90% of smartphones, saw shares plunge after it warned of a slowdown in the smartphone market.
But Hickey added: “We expect to resume our growth trajectory in the second half of 2014.”
The company said it was now shipping to the majority of handset and tablet manufacturers in China, seen as a key growth market for the industry.
Wolfson said it was also in its “strongest-ever position with Samsung”, thanks to a multi-year deal that has established it as a primary audio partner and a major component supplier.
Wolfson shares fell 9.7%.
