Parthus planning series of takeovers

Parthus Technologies, the Irish semi-conductor developer, will use $135 million cash reserves to fund a series of acquisitions in Europe and the US.

The company also wants to boost its research and development operation in the Republic and is looking to secure a lease for new offices in central Dublin.

Its stock climbed almost 9 per cent in London to close at 295p yesterday after posting record third-quarter results and releasing a new mobile computing product InfoStream.

Mr Kevin Fielding, chief operating officer at Parthus, said the company would seek to strengthen its position in several key areas such as third generation telephony and Internet infrastructure software. Parthus was evaluating more than 40 companies and "acquisition announcements would follow," according to Mr Fielding.

Parthus, which develops the semiconductor chip technology required to power mobile computing platforms such as smartphones and personal digital assistant devices, has seen its share price more than triple since flotation in May. The company reported revenue growth of 76 per cent in the third quarter and licensing and royalty growth of 204 per cent. Revenue for the first three quarters totals $22.6 million while licensing agreements are worth $10.9 million for the year-to-date.

Mr Fielding said the results reflected the company's transition from an intellectual property creation company to an intellectual property licensing company capable of generating much higher profit margins.

The results show Parthus signed 10 licence agreements during the third quarter. Average deal sizes were now in excess of $1 million. Mr Fielding said the company had struck deals with five of the top 10 semiconductor companies in the world.

The company announced it had licensed its new mobile computing product Infostream to Psion and Motorola.

Mr Brian Long, chief executive of Parthus, revealed the company was currently seeking additional premises in central Dublin to expand its research and development operations. The company currently has 200 employees in the Republic and 171 staff overseas.