ATI posts increased revenue in positive Q1 results

Graphics card and chip manufacturer, ATI, has posted the financial results for the first quarter of its 2006 fiscal period, beating estimates in spite of a substantial drop in profit.

Revenues for the period ending November 30th were posted at USD 591 million, showing an increase of 26 per cent on the previous quarter. The company attributes a large percentage of this increase to the October release of its Radeon X1000 90-nanometer product-line, in addition to the provision of a custom-built GPU for Microsoft's next-generation Xbox 360 console.

ATI CEO, David Orton, commented: "We are pleased with our overall progress in the quarter and remain intensely focused on technology leadership and operational execution. Our PC business is benefiting from strong demand for the new X1000 series GPUs as well as significant growth in integrated chipsets. Our Consumer segment continued to record solid growth, with handheld shipments up nearly 60 per cent sequentially and surpassing 21 million units in the quarter."

Profit for the first quarter was posted at USD 7.6 million, dropping almost 90 per cent on the USD 63.7 million for the same period last year. In spite of the marked decline, the results have been viewed positively by financial analysts, beating estimates by approximately USD 40 million. The company's consumer sales - including digital television and handheld units - increased by 31 per cent to USD 125 million, while PC revenue fell 10 per cent to USD 466 million.

The report made no reference to the potential impact of the widespread shortages of Xbox 360 hardware, remaining optimistic about the second quarter results and predicting an increase of between 8-12 per cent on the first quarter.