Boom in remote working kit lifts British chip designer Dialog
A surge in demand for tablets, notebooks and wearable devices helped buoy sales at British chip designer Dialog Semiconductor after a difficult first quarter.
Dialog, whose headquarters are in Reading, said its revenue came in at $302m (£230m) for the three months to the end of June, beating earlier guidance, as millions bought new kit to allow them to work and learn from home.
This helped lift operating profits by 89pc on the first quarter, Dialog said, although they remained down on last year.
Dialog has experienced a tough start to the year, having previously warned over disruption to its supply chain. Many semiconductor companies took an earlier hit from the Covid pandemic than those in other industries, given their supply links to China. Shares in the firm had dipped to a two-year low at the start of the year.
Boss Jalal Bagherli told the Telegraph in February that Dialog would probably not be "massively affected but we have an impact".
He said the hit to production would likely not "have a long-term impact, but will probably be a blip for most people".
Since then, Dialog said its supply chain has remained stable, and said most of its suppliers were operating at almost full capacity.
During the latest quarter, it also made progress on plans to become less reliant on Apple for its revenue, and completed its planned takeover of US firm Adesto Technologies.
Mr Bagherli said as lockdowns had begun to ease across the world, the company would be "pushing ahead with the expansion of our product portfolio, and the diversification of our customer base".
Dialog said it expected revenue to continue improving throughout the rest of the year, with turnover of between $340m and $380m in the third quarter. Its underlying gross margin would be broadly in line with that recorded for the second quarter.
