A new thread for Cambridge Silicon Radio, a bluetooth play for 2004.

Cambridge Silicon Radio Holdings Ltd, the Bluetooth technology group that is about to list on the London Stock Exchange, said its offering will be priced at 160-200 pence a share.

The indicative price range corresponds to an offer size of 54-68 mln stg and a market capitalisation for the company of 192-239 mln stg after flotation.

CSR designs and manufactures single-chip radio devices - focusing initially on solutions for the 2.4GHz Bluetooth personal area networking standard. The background and experience of our development team give CSR a unique advantage to help OEMs exploit the new wave of wireless networking, allowing us to offer the most highly integrated single-chip Bluetooth solutions, which are based on commodity CMOS technology with all its inherent advantages.

www.csr.com

===

CSR, which has secured over 70 mln usd of funding from a number of investors including Compaq Corp, Philips Electronics NV, Sony Corp, Intel Corp and 3i Group PLC, was founded in 1998.

The company claims on its Website to be the world's leading provider of Bluetooth, accounting for 60 pct of all Bluetooth end-products.

Bluetooth is a low-cost, short-range radio link between mobile PCs, mobile phones and other devices, enabling users to connect a wide range of devices easily and simply, without the need for cables.

Dandu should make you smile.....

27/04/2012

MARKET REPORT:

CSR shares advance amid whispers of a share cash offer
By Geoff Foster

Those were the days. Long-term share-holders of CSR, or Cambridge Silicon Radio as it was once known, will remember that blue sky period in 2006 when shares of the silicon chips supplier were changing hands above £15.
Six years and several profit warnings later, they must now be praying it loses its independence to a cash-rich overseas predator.

Up from a 52-week low of 153.2p on prevailing bid hopes, the shares advanced a further 9.4p or 4.7 per cent to 210.6p amid whispers that a £600m or £3 a share cash offer could soon be on the cards.

Moving up: The Footsie rose 29.83 points to 5,748.72
Japanese electronics giant Samsung, with which CSR already has joint venture agreements, and Texas Instruments of the US, were two names being touted in the market last night.

CSR does not itself make chips. Instead it licenses its patented designs to hardware makers and receives a royalty each time a gadget containing one of its designs is sold.
More...FTSE Close: Blue-chip good news from Shell, Whitbread and Unilever sends shares higher
What next for shares? Predictions from the world's best stock market experts

When Qualcomm swallowed Atheros Comms, which specialised in wireless technology, for £2bn, it left CSR as the only other real pure play connectivity chip provider.

Any bidder would have to get the nod from Schroders, CSR’s largest shareholder with 19.5 per cent.

A sudden bout of nervous selling ahead of Tuesday’s trading update dragged defence company Chemring 22.1p down to a 52-week low of 316.9p.

Bears roared that there has been a delay in a long-awaited sizeable, multiyear contract award for NIITEK, its developer of robot and vehicle-mounted mine-detection systems.

The company has said it would be confirmed by the end of April.

The Footsie moved up 29.83 points to 5,748.72 and the FTSE 250 26.93 to 11,361.38 after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said overnight that the Central Bank ‘would not hesitate’ to launch another round of bond purchases to drive borrowing costs lower if it looked as though the US economy was in need of it.
Sentiment was also helped by some impressive corporate trading statements from leading blue chips including Whitbread, 112p up at 1921p, Royal Dutch Shell A, 67.5p better at 2195.5p, and Unilever, 56p dearer at 2135p.

Wall Street traded 34 points higher at the outset on further consideration of Bernanke’s comments and following news that pending US home sales rose 4.1 per cent in March, hitting its highest level in almost two years.

In-line first-quarter trading and revived speculative buying amid vague bid talk lifted speciality chemicals group Elementis 10.3p to 207.8p.

EnQuest improved 1.7p to 123.7p after announcing the acquisition of a third tranche in the Kraken oil discovery, taking its equity interest up to 60 per cent from 45 per cent.

Numis is a fan and has a target price of 184p. ‘There’s a surprise,’ said one sarcastic trader as Borders & Southern, 1.5p dearer at 85.5p, raised £46.5m via a share placing at 84p a pop.
It follows the shenanigans of last week when the shares almost doubled to 130p on hot gossip of an oil find in the Falklands which turned out to be a gas condensate discovery. Roxi Petroleum gushed 13 per cent to 3.25p after the Kazakhstan-focused oil and gas company gave a positive operational update.

Sports marketing and events manager Parallel Media soared 5.5p or 58 per cent higher to 15p after entering into a joint venture to bring Korean Pop (K-pop) concerts to Singapore.
The joint venture is with CJ E&M, a leading Korean media and entertainment company.

Parallel Media has also placed 1.4m shares at 35p a go with Mr Henry Wee, raising £500,000.
Wee, formerly a banker in an international bank in Singapore, has been granted an option to subscribe for a further 1.4m at the same price.
News of an oversubscribed 6.6m share placing at 120p with institutional investors left Highland Gold Mining 3.5p easier at 128p.

Gold Oil spurted 1.52p to 5.8p on a Faraday Research recommendation.

The company recently said that oil majors are showing an interest in its operations in Peru. Mobile gambling company Probability added 1.5p at 75.75p following a fourthquarter trading update.

Analysts are now of the opinion it will make a maiden profit of £1m in the year to end-March 2013 rising to £3.8m the following year.

The switch by punters to gambling with mobiles rather than per cents is helping to grow revenues. Numis has a target price of 150p.

A positive full-year trading update helped Zoo Digital, the film software company, climb 2p to 11.75p.

Toys and games group Character lost 10p to 150p after reporting lower interim profits.

Broker Merchant Securities shaved its target price to 170p from 202p and reduced its current year pre-tax profit forecast to £8.3m from £9m.

Shares of JD Sports were out of fashion at 775p, down 34.5p. Investec remains a buyer with a price target of £9.

Management needs to return Blacks Leisure to a profitable core as quickly as possible, and invest in firm foundations preparing for the internationalisation of its Sports business.

This will require an increase in investment through both capital expenditure and operating costs which will hold back short-term earnings growth and cash generation


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2135806/MARKET-REPORT-CSR-shares-advance-amid-whispers-share-cash-offer.html#ixzz1tCEF

SEE ABOVE POST.

Could turn into a bidding war given
CSR monopoly position and all cash on
books.

Down on the FTSE 250, a late rally saw CSR charge up 9.4p to 210.6p.

The move was accompanied by reheated takeover rumours, with the vague speculation suggesting the chip designer could be a target for US firm Texas Instruments, although City voices were playing down the whispers.

At the same time, Liberum Capital retained its "buy" advice ahead of CSR's first-quarter results next week, whilealso claiming that the group "is in a position to announce further more aggressive buybacks".

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/sharewatch/market-report-hopes-the-tough-times-are-over-see-weir-on-the-rise-7682513.html

Thanks for the updates GF, smiling from ear to ear!

CSR

Good to see the stock relatively
speaking from a technical point
of view outperforming its sector
and the 250 Index again.

Dandu yep good news just before results. Fingers crossed we should have a decent rally here on a rotten market in general.

No RNS seems to be a story thats
been overlooked......

From Business Weekly:-

Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Kate Sweeney
.
CSR opens automotive facility in Germany.
.
CSR has opened the CSR Automotive Systems Development and Applications Centre in Ingolstadt, Southern Germany.

Cambridge, UK based CSR acquired the facility, which was built by TEMIC Telefunken Hochfrequenztechnik GmbH, a provider of RF system solutions for auto-infotainment and consumer products, as part of its merger with Zoran Corporation last year.

Close to the major German automotive OEM’s and Tier One suppliers, the Ingolstadt facility is also only a short distance from CSR customers in the automotive centres throughout Europe.

“The Ingolstadt Automotive Centre has been specifically designed, built and staffed with very experienced engineers targeting the automotive market,” said Charlie Lesko, senior VP for CSR’s Automotive Business Group.

“CSR has been committed to the automotive market over a decade by offering our industry-leading connectivity, location, telematics and infotainment solutions.

“The investment in this facility is a strong indication of CSR’s ongoing commitment to this business and is a key part of our growth strategy. The facility and staff will enable us to offer local support as well as unique services to our automotive customers in Europe.”

The experienced RF, hardware and software engineering team based at the new facility will allow CSR to continue to expand support and access for German and European customers to the entire CSR automotive product portfolio including location, connectivity and infotainment SoC solutions.

It will also strengthen partnerships with automotive OEMs and key Tier Ones by offering greatly enhanced, design-in support and test infrastructure. The facility will also support increased marketing and business development activities across the region.

Somebody mentioned shorts closing
above..........................

IG Sentiment gauge backs this up.

Last time I looked last week it was
80 odd % long and the rest short.

NOW

Client Sentiment

99% of IG clients with open positions in this market expect the price to rise

1% of IG clients with open positions in this market expect the price to fall


Changes every 15 minutes and is
used as a proxy for shorting.

CSR

300p take out SP sounds too skinny to
me given that it has all that cash on the
books and is more or less in a monopoly
position as a free standing company
in this specialist field on the Worlds markets.

Wondering what price brokers have as
targets.

CSR

Yep Brokers BUY targets are in the
main very positive.......

Date Broker name New Price Old price target New price target Broker change

23 Apr JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 228.10 315.00 - Riteration.
13-Apr-12 Seymour Pierce Buy 216.10p 400.00p - Reiteration
21-Feb-12 UBS Neutral 260.90p 200.00p 290.00p Reiteration
21-Feb-12 Numis Securities Hold 260.90p 290.00p - DownGrade
17-Jan-12 JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 215.90p 285.00p 300.00p Upgrade

CSR plc (CSR)22:17 ET Apr 26, 2012 Analyst Comment by Liberum Capital

Liberum Capital reiterates buy rating on CSR plc

CSR

A Buy confirmed on the candles

Bullish Marabuzo (in other words big white candle)

http://www.britishbulls.com/StockPage.asp?CompanyTicker=CSR&MarketTicker=Technolog

Thanks again for the updates GF

Samsung possible bidder...........

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/sharewatch/market-report-london-tech-stocks-bathe-in-samsungs-korean-sun-7685201.html

Results tomorrow.

1st Quarter Results.

· Financial performance:

o Q1 2012 revenue of $227.0m (Q1 2011: $163.9m) includes a contribution of $73.2m from Zoran,
o Revenue growth Q1 2012 year-on-year in Automotive business line (37%) and Home Business Group (35%) with declines in Personal Navigation Devices (PND) (53%) and Handsets (15%),
o Underlying operating profit improved to $2.7m (Q1 2011: $0.0m), IFRS operating loss increased to $15.8m (Q1 2011: loss $3.3m) due to $14.5m litigation income recorded in Q1 2011,
o Ended Q1 2012 with cash, cash equivalents, treasury deposits and investments of $251.3m.

· Focus on returns:

o Underlying operating expenses $112.1m continue to reduce (Q4 2011: $123.9m),
o $130m of annualised savings on track to be completed by end of Q2 2012.
· Momentum in platform strategy:
o Platform revenue 57% of total revenue in Q1 2012 (Q1 2011: 38%) driving improved year-on-year underlying gross margin of 50.6% and underlying profitability,
o Next generation SiRFstarV™ location platform chosen by major smartphone manufacturer for Q2 launch,
o Fifteen new licensees for aptX® in first quarter taking total to more than 75 customers,
o Launched next generation Quatro 5300™ programmable imaging processors for printers.

· Continued technical innovation:

o CSR and Software Imaging Limited jointly launched DirectOffice™ Mobile Print 3.0, which offers the ability to print directly from mobile devices to most existing printers,
o Indoor location technology nominated for UBM Electronics ACE Awards in Innovator of the Year category,
o CSR9800™ Wi-Fi®/Bluetooth® combination chip on track.

Numis Securities Upgrades TP 290p.

UBS Upgrades Tp 310p

17July2012: Big leap in sp (+33%) as a result of selling its Mobile business to Samsung and a promise to return a big chunk of cash to shareholders....Yet, by my reconing that will be the same as the rise, today. So in effect MM's are pricing in the Return at par . . . and the business is left somewhat leaner.
Also, I'm not sure what "bringing shares out of Treasury" really means - as I read it it means dilution - since Treasury shares are normally cancelled - someone explain???
However, l not convinced this is a good Buy even discounting this Sale and with that halting further "phone" developments, CSR is showing signs of "wither" - all IMHO - - - and DYOR.

StockMarketWire.com
Wireless technology group CSR's underlying operating profits rose to $32.2m in the three months to 28 September - up from $24.3m a year ago.

And it plans to return up to $285m to shareholders following a deal with Samsung.

On an IFRS basis, there was an operating loss of $1.9m reflecting one-off charges (Q3 2011: loss of $7.7m, reflecting fair value adjustments to inventory following the Zoran acquisition).

Third quarter revenues rose to $282.7m compared with $243.3m, which included one month of Zoran.

Chief executive Joep van Beurden said: "We have delivered another good quarter driven by the momentum in our business.

"We are delighted to have completed the transaction with Samsung on 4 October. The proceeds have been received, the transfer of people to Samsung has been completed and we are on track to deliver our targeted cost run-rate for 2012 and 2013.

"We now intend to return up to $285m to shareholders, including holders of American Depository Shares, the terms of which we expect to announce during this quarter.

"We expect to have a higher than projected cash position at year-end due to lower tax on the Samsung transaction and better than forecast overall business performance. "The Samsung transaction accelerates our strategy of focusing on platforms where we have leadership positions, strong gross margins and attractive growth opportunities.

"We are now focussed on our core business, where we expect good market growth to be reflected in our core business revenues in 2013."

POSTING OF TENDER OFFER CIRCULAR

The Company announces the proposed return of a maximum of £176.69 million to the Company's Shareholders by means of a tender offer

On 17 July 2012, the Company announced that it intended to return cash of a maximum of US$285 million to its Shareholders by means of a tender offer (the "Tender Offer"), following the transfer of the Company's development operations in handset connectivity and location to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. which completed on 4 October 2012. Shareholders approved the Tender Offer at a General Meeting held on 17 August 2012.

The £176.69 million is equal to US$285 million translated at an exchange rate of US$1.6130 per £1 which was the exchange rate obtained by the Company under its hedging arrangements on 4 October 2012.

Key elements of the Tender Offer are:

· £176.69 million available to be returned to Shareholders via the purchase of a maximum of 52.7 million Ordinary Shares (including Ordinary Shares represented by ADSs), representing a maximum of approximately 24.7 per cent. of the Issued Ordinary Share Capital of the Company at 26 October 2012;

· Ordinary Shares may be tendered within a price range of 335 pence to 375 pence per Ordinary Share (representing a discount of 1.0 per cent. to a premium of 10.8 per cent. to the closing price of 338.4 pence on 26 October 2012);

· the Tender Offer is structured using a Strike Price mechanism. All successfully tendered Ordinary Shares (including Ordinary Shares represented by ADSs) will be acquired at the Strike Price; and

· the closing time and date is 3.00 p.m. (UK time) on 29 November 2012 (5.00 p.m. (New York City time) on 28 November 2012 for ADS Holders), with proceeds expected to be despatched to Shareholders by 5 December 2012.