Strategic partnerships

Working with industry groups vital

Mentioned Google, TSMC (v important relationship as much of their wafer throughout is now using IMG IP), synaptic

Broadening TAM

Each IP block added adds potential new markets with MIPS offering potentially the biggest possibilities.

Adding MIPS hugely increased the licensee base and offers more options to cross sell '2 years ago we said QCOM & Toshiba were the 2 majors we hadn't licensed to, now we have signed both'

Intel have always used their own graphics and always will but they will be continuing to sell more.

Intel sold low 10's millions last year, will sell higher 10's millions this year, rising to 100-100's millions in the future. They have the resources to successfully complete the transition from PC to mobile.

Mediatek - don't worry other companies IP will be in some products but that is life but we are a major part of their future.

Confident on BCOM deal to take on some of the gap left by TI. 'Better that Renesas business went to BCOM than it staying in Japan'

To shi'a v important.

Cavium - mentioned specifically 'people mention Cavium taking an ARM license, they are going with ARM - NO.' Very positive about this MIPS licensee

SOC

All IP blocks we offer are open - customers my choose IP blocks, multiple IP blocks or entire SoC.

Global Imagination - we are now 1,600 people and USA is the biggest growth area.

'Rise and rise of MIPS' - says there is big love for MIPS in USA (I thought it was more in Far East)

PURE

'Even Google want PURE to do something with Android' !!

What we do

'Where we are now is not an accident' - it has taken years to get to where we have an offering that covers all bases.

4 groups

Multimedia, Processors (MIPS), Comms (Ensigma), Cloud (Flow)

HY thinks in 10 years time EVERYTHING will be connected (even trees & crops !) maybe that's part of the green revolution :-)

Sir HY

No slide handouts this year unfortunately so limited chance to make notes for in depth q's at the end.

Sneaky.

Basically there's going to be a lot of re-iterating of the IMS I think.

Expecting H2 licensing to be stronger than last year.

MIPS - now FULLY integrated. Important and to be expanded on later.

6XT already with 'very, very lead partners' - h2 says 'Apple and Mediatek'.

More emphasis on the importance of PURE as a central core to the business.

Confirms that the co has 'a long term plan' not short term.

FTSE 100

First reference to this in the opening statement from GS - new format for speeding thru the voting at the end in a FTSE100 company style.

And so to the big man...

Big turnout

Not a Scottish euphemism, a statement of fact. There is almost standing room only even in this bigger room.

My predictions this year - all the motions will be passed. You read it here first folks.

AGM Live Blog

Testing testing 1-2-3

Imagination Technologies IMS

IMG gave a boringly reassuring IMS today - after the controversies and SP gyrations which followed the last IMS this is very welcome imo. Steady progress across all fronts together with in-line ASP (5-6X that of ARM Mali) despite increasing royalty volume:

Imagination Technologies Group plc ('Imagination', LSE: IMG), a leading multimedia, communications and processor technology company, is today issuing its Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 May 2013 to 16 September 2013.

Trading updateThe momentum in the business has continued and there have been a number of strategically important developments during the period.

Royalty revenue growth for the latest quarter has continued to be strong, in line with our expectations. The unit volume growth has been significant, driven by volume ramp-up and new product launches from a number of our customers. The average royalty rate achieved is in line with our expectations.

Licensing activity remains steady with significant engagements in progress with a number of important partners.

The Pure business is gaining traction, with promising initial interest in and orders of the Jongo range of wireless speakers.

Technology

Multimedia

Our PowerVR Series6 technology has seen further deployment in the market and is now shipping for use in automotive, DTV and mobile devices, delivering the latest features (e.g. OGLES 3.0) and demonstrating the performance and power consumption advantages of this class-leading technology.

We see continued interest in and licensing of the existing Series6 cores, and initial licensing of the new PowerVR Series6XT technology which will be delivered to customers in FY14H2.

The level of interest in our ray tracing IP is significant with a number of major partners evaluating this ground breaking technology.

CPU and processor cores

Following the complete integration of MIPS, the organisation is performing well and a very successful event held at Stanford University recently was very well attended with high levels of customer interest in the products and the progress we have made.

Development of the MIPS ‘Warrior’ family of processor cores and the drive to strengthen and build on the MIPS ecosystem continue as planned.

Existing customers are increasingly comfortable with the support and direction the MIPS architecture is taking, and we are seeing positive engagements across the MIPS product range.

Of particular note is the wearable device market which is an exciting opportunity for MIPS processor cores given its efficient architecture and we have seen important progress in this area.

Whilst the progress on MIPS is very encouraging we re-iterate that this is a long-term strategy to offer real choice in the CPU and processor IP market.

Communications

The traction we have seen with our communication IP has increased further, with the recently announced license agreement with Toshiba a good example of this.

There is considerable interest in these technologies from potential customers, some of which we expect to convert to licensing in this financial year.
We expect to see some of our existing partners introducing new products using our Ensigma communication technologies to the market during this financial year.

Our announcement of the new Caskeid multi-room wireless audio technology, which also powers Pure Jongo wireless speakers, at the recent IFA show has been strongly received, with several prospects in progress.

Cloud technologies

The cloud technology which we have developed is highly relevant to the key established and emerging markets including audio and video content delivery, home automation, security and the general Internet of Things (IoT). We recently launched FlowAudio (www.flowlive.com) as a licensable service and the Pure Connect online audio service is a compelling example of applications running on this platform. We expect both the underlying platform and services based on it to be of significant interest to our customers.

Pure

We have continued the development and launch of a number of strategic products and technologies that will help to transform home multimedia, which includes the entire range of Jongo multiroom speakers. Important relationships with key retailers have been developed in the UK and US, including BestBuy and Walmart, to establish and drive our presence in this exciting product category.

Outlook

The progress on licensing to date and the current sales pipeline support the existing guidance of £30m-£35m of licensing revenue (excluding MIPS), which equates to a range including MIPS of £38m - £43m.

Based on our view of existing partner shipments and new products which are starting to ship, we maintain our guidance of unit shipments (excluding MIPS) in excess of 650m for FY14 (1.35bn including MIPS).

We expect to see a financial improvement in the Pure division over the medium term, driven by the launch of the new Jongo product range.

The financial position of Imagination remains robust and the Board is confident that the Group’s progress will continue.

Hossein Yassaie, Imagination’s Chief Executive said:

“We continue to focus on building sustainable and long-term value in our business, despite the transient events and short term variations that are inevitable in the dynamic markets in which we operate.

“Our important strategic engagements continue with further partnerships developing and new opportunities arising which will continue to drive our market penetration and growth.

“Our strong technology base, partner engagements, design wins achieved, and growing opportunities, give me confidence that we will continue our planned progress.”

END

Major new strategic agreement with Mediatek

 IMG today announced a major new agreement with Mediatek:

Multi-year, multiple core agreement provides MediaTek with access to market leading graphics technologies

Imagination Technologies (LSE: IMG.L), a leading multimedia, processor, communications and cloud technologies company, has signed a further license agreement with MediaTek Inc., a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions. The multi-year agreement includes multiple cores from Imagination’s PowerVR Series6 ‘Rogue’ family and beyond.
PowerVR Series6 is already enabling MediaTek to deliver products with advanced graphical features, such as OpenGL ES 3.0 support, while maintaining the low power profile essential to mobile devices. The new agreement will ensure MediaTek has access to innovative and market leading graphics technology for years to come.

Says Johan Lodenius, chief marketing officer for MediaTek: “MediaTek is focused on providing a market-leading product range that delivers all key market requirements resulting in true end user benefits, including leading performance and an enhanced feature set, all at low power.  The strengthening strategic relationship with Imagination is a significant element in our SoC roadmaps and we are pleased with this multi-year agreement which will deliver the next wave of success for both companies across key segments.”

Says Imagination EVP marketing, Tony King-Smith: “Graphics performance and efficiency, particularly in terms of optimal power consumption, are crucial to the majority of markets today, especially mobile. With wide ranging adoption of PowerVR technology MediaTek will confidently deliver a range of solutions that address those markets in a compelling way. MediaTek’s SoCs are a great example of how we see our partners using their unique expertise and innovation combined with our technologies to differentiate their products.”
MediaTek will deploy the technology in SoC devices targeting multiple markets across its product range.
Under the terms of its licensing arrangements Imagination receives license fees, and royalty revenues on shipment of SoCs incorporating Imagination's IP.

END

This is IMG's first multi-year/multi-core rns since September 2008 (with Apple) and comes after a period of time when many had doubted the strength of the relationship with Mediatek. It reinforces the Mediatek feedback from Dave/Ronak's recent meeting with Sir HY .Well done to all the team.

Apple and Broadcom updates

Apple unveiled the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, as widely predicted, last night:

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/09/10Apple-Announces-iPhone-5s-The-Most-Forward-Thinking-Smartphone-in-the-World.html

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/09/10Apple-Introduces-iPhone-5c-The-Most-Colorful-iPhone-Yet.html

The 5s contains the new A7 (64-bit) chip, with support for Open GL ES 3.0 - presumably this implies a PowerVR Series 6 Rogue GPU (not confirmed yet) which is obviously great news for IMG. The graphics are said to be 'up to 2X' performance of the iPhone 5 .
The 5c uses the A6 processor, with SGX 543MP3 GPU.
Availability is from 20th September, including China and also NTT DoCoMo of Japan . DoCoMo of late has been using Qualcomm, instead of Renesas, for its smartphones so IMG will obviously increase market share once again in Japan.

In other important news Broadcom last week announced it had acquired the LTE-related assets of Renesas, in order to not miss out in this rapidly expanding market and 'catch-up' with market-leader Qualcomm.

http://www.broadcom.com/press/release_987090413.php

This is a really big deal for IMG in my view.
Broadcom will immediately enter the market with the EOS2 dual core LTE chip (this is the Renesas MP5232 platform, using SGX 544MP graphics, already carrier-validated) and have multiple Tier 1 customers lined up, including Samsung . Ramp-up will be Q4 '13/Q1 '14 and a quad-core version is in-design for production late 2014.
Broadcom inherits Power VR Series 6 Rogue with this deal.
Broadcom are already a major customer for MIPS and are thought to be an Ensigma licensee also. This deal should further deepen and broaden the relationship with IMG.
It also removes some of the uncertainty around the loss of future royalty volume via ST/E, Renesas Mobile and TI (mobile).


The IMG interim-management statement is on the 17th September, with the AGM (live blogged again by Ken) 3 days later.