Unlock the Editor’s Digest at no cost
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories on this weekly newsletter.
Raspberry Pi’s pre-tax profits fell greater than 50 per cent in 2024 because the semiconductor designer and maker of tiny, low-cost computers battled inventory issues, in its first full-year results because it went public on the London Stock Exchange last June.
The corporate said pandemic-related inventory problems led to a 57 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to $16.3mn. But it surely said these had been “normalised” and it now expected a “regular build-up in demand all year long, positioning us strongly despite ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties”.
The Cambridge-based company reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of $37.2mn for the 12 months to the tip of December — above analysts’ estimates of $36.6mn but 15 per cent lower than in 2023. Revenues fell 2 per cent to $259.5mn.
The corporate’s shares rose 4 per cent at Wednesday’s open. Analysts at Jefferies upgraded the stock from hold to purchase on Wednesday morning.
Raspberry Pi’s initial public offering last 12 months at a valuation of £542mn was seen as a rare victory for the London market, which has been struggling to draw listings, particularly from technology firms, which generally prefer to list within the US.
Chief executive Eben Upton said the corporate had released more products within the second half of 2024 than in any prior full 12 months, which “helped to fulfill market expectations in a 12 months dominated by the widely reported inventory correction”.
Raspberry Pi sold 1.9mn units of its $120 Pi 5 computer, launched in October 2023. It said it expected “promising” discussions with original equipment manufacturers to make an increasing contribution to sales from next 12 months.
Raspberry Pi began selling its products to the general public in 2012. It was arrange under the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a UK charity founded in 2008 to advertise computing to young people.
Its IPO raised £178.9mn, including £31.4mn for the corporate. Raspberry Pi said the funds can be used for engineering projects and recent product releases.
