Parthus pledges summer break-even

THE long slog by Parthus to profitability is almost complete, with the Irish microchip design company pledging to break-even by the middle of this year. Royalty contributions are flowing from Parthus-designed chips in Microsoft's new Xbox games machine and a range of laptops.

Chief operating office Kevin Fielding said a cost clampdown would enable the Dublin-based group to break-even on quarterly revenues of $10m (£6.6m) to $11m. He forecast that Parthus would defy what it called the worst ever slump in the semiconductor industry and hit the target by the summer.

Helped by 28 recent job cuts, Parthus expects to be in the black for the first time since it was floated by Goldman Sachs in May 2000 at 85p. The shares added 1/4p to 32 1/2p.

Core sales for the three months to 31 December grew 6% to $8.7m against the third quarter, and by 70% year-on-year. Full-year pre-tax losses widened 42% to $11.7m on turnover up 28% at $40.9m.