Wireless revolution pays out for Catena Group

22/02/2008 17:09

Catena Group

Delft, February 22, 2008- The Catena Group has benefitted in 2007 from the continued rising worldwide demand for wireless applications.

Invoiced turnover is expected to have grown with regard to 2006 with 37% from 18.9 Million Euros to 26 Million Euros in 2007. The profit of the entire group is expected to rise with more than 50%. Demand came in 2007 from the United States, Middle East and Europe and indirectly from Asia. All group companies contributed to this growth and profitability, which latter was also due to 100% capacity utilization, despite the growth in the number of hard- and software engineers. Catena has seen a reinforced tendency to smaller sizes going from 90, 65 to 45 nanometers in CMOS technology and to increased complexity per integrated circuit. This trend requires more engineers per integrated circuit design. Catena has been able to provide to its customers those experienced teams, which are required to deliver these smaller and more complex integrated circuits, tested and turn-key. Amongst its customers we see major semiconductor multinationals as well as small and medium sized fabless innovative companies looking for expertise and proven experience (silicon).

Outlook 2008
According to Catena's president, Rien Geurtsen, the year 2008 looks challenging for two reasons. On the one hand the trend towards more wireless, complexity and smaller size will continue. On the other hand the banking crisis and continuous depreciation of the US dollar can affect the investment decisions of the producers and users of integrated circuits in the world. Geurtsen: "At the start of the year we already have approximately 60% of our turnover in 2007 in orders booked, thus this gives confidence." Nevertheless things should not worsen, because we are an investment industry. Catena will itself continue to invest in a higher bandwidth network between its subsidiaries, invest in storage capacity and software. In Sweden as well as in the Netherlands its office and engineering capacity has expanded in 2007.





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