Mailonline24 Jun 2017 21:42
IMG: But its decision to put itself up for sale yesterday still sent shares in the company soaring by 16.4 per cent, or 20.25p to 143.75p, as analysts predicted there would be a long queue of interested investors.
It is now valued at £408million, well below its 2012 peak of nearly £2billion.
Major firms in the frame possibly include American chip maker Intel, Taiwanese semiconductor company MediaTek, US telecoms firm Qualcomm and even Apple.
Liberum analyst Janardan Menon said: 'This is a company that ticks a lot of exciting boxes and is working in what are becoming some very important areas.
'For many of the big companies that will be interested, it is also not that expensive.' The broker upgraded its recommendation from 'hold' to 'buy', advising investors it could be valued at as much as 233p a share – well above its close last night.
Menon said: 'It is an underappreciated asset, but that should not detract from the fact it has key intellectual property.'
There were also suggestions of interest from China, with some analysts tipping existing shareholder Tsinghua Unigroup as a possible buyer, although this prospect could create possible issues with regulators.
Looking good?