Encouraging Q2 for Sivers Semiconductor
Sales increased by 25 percent year-on-year
Swedish firm Sivers Semiconductors AB has announced its interim report for Q2 (January – June 2021).
Sivers' optical business Sivers Photonics was previously CST Global, a UK maker of InP lasers.
Anders Storm, president and CEO gave the following report on the results: "As expected, we took the first step out of the pandemic in the second quarter, which contributed to the company’s positive progress, and with Wireless in particular returning to growth. We also successfully completed the move to Nasdaq’s main list as planned. We continued to expand the customer base and maintained an excellent dialogue with new and existing customers and partners. Sales were SEK 27 million (€2.6M) in the second quarter, an increase of 25 percent year-on-year. Wireless’ sales returned an increase of 118 percent.
"We continued our growth investments in the quarter, including production capacity, customer support, sales and marketing. EBIT was SEK -28 million [~€2.7M], down by almost SEK 11 million [€1M] year-on-year. The cost increase is according to plan and has multiple causes. These include the non-recurring costs associated with the Nasdaq listing process of approximately SEK 8 million [€0.78]. Increased personnel costs are a result of recruitments to ensure strong future growth. We had 117 employees at the end of the quarter, an increase of 18 in year-on-year terms."
"During the quarter, the Wireless business area made several important announcements, including new design wins, one with TMYTEK in Taiwan and one with a North American telecom company that will develop products for unlicensed 5G. We now have a total of 26 design wins. Our market leading 60 Ghz technology is the foundation for our agreement with Lithuanian high-tech company 8devices. In the quarter, 8devices increased its estimated demand for equipment from us by 30–50percent in 2021– 2024, corresponding to estimated sales of SEK 90–150 million [€8.8 to 14.6M] ."
"Photonics also made advances, winning another follow-up order of SEK 14 million [€1.35M] for optical sensing from our largest Fortune 100 customer, who we have now collaborated with for nearly three years. The total order value during these years was just under SEK 100 million [€9.75M}, and each new order increases our chances of playing a part in the future volume production of the customer’s sensors. Alongside our partners Imec and ASM AMICRA, we also successfully integrated lasers from our platform with Imec’s Silicon photonics platform in the quarter, which will accelerate the use of silicon photonics in many new applications."
"We had a strong cash position at the end of the quarter, which we will continue to use for our organic and international expansion."
"We reached an important milestone in the second quarter with the listing of the share on Nasdaq Stockholm’s main list. The listing is a quality stamp and another important piece of the puzzle in the continued expansion and progress of the company. It strengthens our profile and brand with customers and investors, and improves our access to the Swedish and international capital markets. It also improves our ability to attract and retain qualified staff. Overall, the listing is an important step towards creating increased long-term shareholder value."
Operational highlights
Highlights of the phrotonics business:
On June 3, the subsidiary Sivers Photonics announced that it reached a significant milestone, alongside its partners Imec and ASM AMICRA, in a joint silicon photonics project.
On June 10, Sivers Semiconductors announced that the subsidiary Sivers Photonics had won a new order in Optical Sensing worth approximately SEK 14 million [€1.37M] from one of the company’s established Fortune 100 customers.
