Dialog Still Winning Apple Deals as It Looks to Spend Cash Pile

(Bloomberg) -- Dialog Semiconductor Plc said it’s picking up business from Apple Inc., as the British chipmaker continues to diversify.

Dialog currently has cash and cash equivalents of $690 million on its balance sheet, after signing a $600 million deal with Apple in October to license Dialog’s power management technology and acquire certain assets, including more than 300 staff.

"We have a pile of cash, and part of it will be used to fund acquisitions," Jalal Bagherli, chief executive officer of Dialog, said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday.

The CEO reiterated that any deals would be small to medium in size, and likely focused on smart, connected devices. Last year Dialog called off merger talks with Synaptics Inc.

Despite the loss of a power management contract, Dialog has been awarded new business from Apple for the development and supply of other mixed-signal integrated circuits, revenue from which will be generated over the course of the next three years.

The British chipmaker flagged in March that it expected its 2019 underlying revenue to decline by single-digit percentage points, and that first-quarter sales would come in at $295 million, points that it confirmed in its latest results statement Thursday.

For the second quarter, underlying revenue is expected in the range of $293 million to $333 million. First-quarter adjusted operating profit came in at $47.2 million, above estimates of $44.4 million.

Dialog said it will begin a new share buyback program following the end of the current plan. Bagherli said he did not expect the new program to be of a smaller size.

Dialog has also won deals with Huawei Technologies Co., with Dialog supplying technology for the Chinese company’s wireless headphones. However, Dialog’s automotive and industrial business was down 46% year-on-year, driven by lower demand.

Shares in Dialog rose just under 1% in early trading London on Thursday, and are up more than 52% in 2019.

To contact the reporter on this story: Giles Turner in London at gturner35@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net, Nate Lanxon, Timothy Sifert

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