The Avant! board has given the go-ahead for the company to start a stock buy-back program. The company says it will purchase up to 2 million shares of outstanding Avant! stock in an attempt to boost shareholder value. The Sunnyvale, California-based chip-design software company, reported second quarter net profits up 48.3% at $12.1m on revenue up 35.8% at $54.0m at the end of last week (CI No 3,455), and saw mid-term net fall 18.0% to $12.0m on revenue up 39.5% at $106.0m. Earnings per share rose 37.0% to $0.37 in the quarter, but fell 23.5% to $0.39 in the half. Avant! is listed on Nasdaq and shares were trading at $19.0625 as we went to press. An Avant! Official said that the company believes its shares are undervalued and it is seeking to inject more shareholder value with the buy back program.
