Southern Africa
Poynting announced unaudited financial results for the six month period ending 31 December 2013. Highlights included an earnings per share (EPS) increase of 68% over the previous half-year to 4,11 cents, and a 27,4% increase in revenue which reached R53,5 million. The financial results of Aucom, which Poynting acquired earlier this year, were not included in Poynting’s results.
Legrand opened a new ‘Concept Store’ in Umhlanga (KwaZulu-Natal). As well as displaying a wide range of the company’s products, from high-quality domestic switches and sockets to sophisticated building management systems, the new store also showcases CCTV and access control systems, power equipment, emergency lighting, home automation devices and cable management systems.
Aberdare Cables has been granted conditional immunity against prosecution before the Competition Tribunal, in a case related to the supply of power cables. The company stated that, since it continues to fully comply with the Commission’s requirements as set out in the conditional immunity agreement, it does not anticipate incurring any penalties as prescribed in the Competition Act.
Africa Exchange is facilitating a trade mission to introduce South African companies to potential Zimbabwean business partners. The asking price is US$1200 which Africa Exchange says works out to around $80 per meeting. This price also covers a company’s participation at the Welcome to Zimbabwe Business Seminar which will take place at the Cresta Hotel on 7 May 2014. Those interested should e-mail zimevents@africaexchange.co.
SADC ministers responsible for communications, ICT and postal services met in Johannesburg last month to discuss postal services, mobile roaming, broadband and digital migration. The meeting noted the uneven progress on migration from analog to digital television across the region and “urged all countries who have not yet started their digital migration progress to do as soon as possible. This will allow cross-border frequency planning and cohesion.” It was agreed that SADC heads of states should be made more aware of the urgency to complete the digital migration process by June 2015, not just to meet the International Telecommunications Union deadline, but to release radio frequency spectrum to roll out affordable and universally accessible broadband.
Overseas
Business
u-blox achieved strong top- and bottom-line growth for the 2013 fiscal year, with consolidated revenue of CHF 219,8 million representing a growth of 27% as compared to 2012. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased from CHF 22,9 million to CHF 30,1 million from 2012 to 2013.
Companies
Mentor Graphics has acquired Berkeley Design Automation, a specialist in nanometre analog, mixed-signal and RF circuit verification. The acquisition aligns with Mentor’s goal to deliver technologies with superior performance and automation for the growing challenges of analog/mixed-signal verification.
ON Semiconductor signed a definitive agreement to acquire Truesense Imaging, a provider of high-performance image sensor devices addressing a wide range of industrial end-markets including machine vision, surveillance, traffic monitoring, medical and scientific imaging, and photography. Under the terms of the agreement, ON Semiconductor will pay approximately $92 million in cash to secure the more than 200 new customers this deal will bring them.
Hittite has entered into a definitive agreement to buy substantially all the assets of the Keragis Corporation, a provider of extremely high-power, wideband amplifier modules built on gallium arsenide and gallium nitride semiconductor technologies. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Industry
The Semiconductor Industry Association announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $25,87 billion for the month of February 2014, an increase of 11,4% from February 2013. This marks the industry’s largest year-to-year increase in more than three years. Global sales from February 2014 were 1,5% lower than the January 2014 total of $26,26 billion, reflecting normal seasonal trends.
The market for MEMS microphones is forecast by IHS Technology to reach $1,04 billion this year, up 24% from 2013, and will continue to grow through 2017 when it will total $1,37 billion. Shipments at the end of the forecast window are expected to reach 5,4 billion units, up from 1,9 billion in 2012.This robust growth will continue to be driven primarily by mobile handsets and tablets, with Apple and Samsung being the biggest buyers at present.
Technology
Researchers from Samsung Electronics reported making a breakthrough in the production of the next electronics wonder material – graphene – that they believe will finally pave the way for commercialisation of the technology. Graphene has one hundred times greater electron mobility than silicon, the most widely used material in semiconductors today. It is more durable than steel and has high heat conductivity as well as flexibility, which makes it the most promising candidate to usher in the proliferation of flexible displays, wearables and other next generation electronic devices.
A Chinese startup called Gpixel has taken advantage of foundry Tower Semiconductor’s manufacturing process technology to create what is said to be the world’s highest resolution CMOS image sensor at 150 MPixels. Aimed at medical, industrial and scientific imaging markets, the sensor is monochrome and can sample 10 full frames per second.
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