The company reported sales of $123 million in Q3, down 8 percent from the same quarter last year. Operating margin as well as profits plummeted in IFRS figures — operating margin declined from 20.3 percent to 9.6 percent while pre-tax profit was about halved from $25.8 million in Q3/2008 to $12.6 million in Q3/2009.

Adjusted by a number of factors such as restructuring charges and acquisitions, the figures however read somewhat better: On this basis, the profit was $39.75 million, down a mere 2 percent from Q3/08 figures.

In his outlook, CEO Warren East said he sees improving confidence in the company's customer base. For this reason, the revenues for the full year will be "at least" in line with current market exceptions. However, the consumer demand for electronic devices remains unclear, the company pointed out.

The order backlog climbed 3 percent sequentially, but in comparison with the situation after the half year it improved by 10 percent. The company sold 28 processor licenses in Q3, with non-mobile devices being a major driver: 15 out of these 28 licenses were signed for a broad range of applications such as automotive, digital TV, networking, storage and microcontrollers. The remaining licenses were intended for use in mobile devices such as smartphones or mobile computers.

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