In brief: Riber, Afonics, Sirenza
Despite posting a year-on-year fall in revenue of 22% in 2004, Riber starts 2005 with an order backlog worth €9.9 million ($12.9 million), almost double the €5 million on the books at the beginning of the previous year.
The French supplier of MBE equipment recorded €13.5 million sales for fiscal 2004, comprising three production machines netting €3.8 million, ten research machines contributing €5.9 million, and accessories and spare parts adding €3.7 million.
Year-on-year sales increased by 14% in Europe, but fell by 62% in Asia and 16% in North America.
Afonics targets $100 million sales by 2008Afonics Fibreoptics, a UK firm created during the restructuring of JDS Uniphase in November 2001, has received multi-million dollar funding from the Bank of Scotland.
The fabless company, which has 85 staff, aligns fiber-optic components for telecoms, test-and-measurement, CCTV, military and avionics applications. Funding will be split between providing working capital and developing components.
Despite the company's relatively small size, it is targeting revenue of $100 million by 2008. "We can't get to that size organically," remarked Afonics director Nick Martin, who revealed that the company intends to grow through acquisitions.
Sirenza's bottom line dips into the redUS-based RF component supplier Sirenza Microdevices netted $15.1 million in sales for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2004, down $1.6 million sequentially but up $1.8 million year-on-year.
Loss for the December quarter, using standard accounting procedures, was $2.6 million, compared with a $1.8 million profit in the prior quarter. However, the latest figure included a charge for $2.2 million for the write-off of R&D costs associated with Sirenza's acquisition of ISG Broadband (see related story).