Shares in UK semiconductor manufacturer Telemetrix Plc took another beating on Tuesday as its US networking equipment subsidiary, GTI Corp, filed a year end financial report containing a highly pessimistic trading outlook from the company’s board. Telemetrix’s shares fell 17% to 45.5 pence as the UK market digested the contents of GTI’s form 10K, which outlined gloomy prospects for the 57% owned subsidiary. The San Diego-based company warned of falling revenues combined with first quarter losses set to be well in excess of the $1.6m loss seen in the fourth quarter last year. The board blamed a softening in demand for computing and networking products and increased competition, bringing price reductions in Local Area Networking products. The picture at GTI was clearly hinted at by Telemetrix at its own results announcement three weeks ago, but the specific nature of comments revealed on Monday seems to have given investors the jitters. While Telemetrix’s wholly-owned semiconductor and ISDN test equipment subsidiaries continue to grow, GTI is the errant child, constantly bringing the family name into disrepute; but uncontrollable due to the parent’s lack of representation on the board. Finance director Bruce Rattray said there were no further announcements to make regarding attempts by bankers Cowen & Co to find strategic alternatives for loss making GTI.
