ARC appoints broker to help sort 'strategic options'

ARC appoints broker to help sort 'strategic options'
By Peter Clarke, Semiconductor Business News
November 3, 2002 (9:37 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20021101S0035

ELSTREE, England -- ARC International plc, a provider of configurable processor intellectual property under license, has appointed WestLB Panmure Ltd. as financial advisor to help it sort out its strategic options.

ARC did not go into detail about the options but said it does include the capital structure of the company and its business plan. West LB Panmure joins Goldman Sachs as a joint-broker and joint-advisor to ARC.

ARC said in a statement placed on its website today (November 1, 2002) that its board of directors is working with its advisors to evaluate the relative merits of the strategic options currently available to the company, including a review of the group's capital structure and requirements and its business plan. The board expects to make substantive progress on this review in the month of November and to announce the outcome of this work as soon as it is complete and ready for implementation, ARC said.

In the company's third quarter results, reported on October 24, sales revenue was up 37% year-on-year to about $4.4 million but down 2% sequentially at constant exchange rates excluding 6% currency impact, the company said. The net loss for the period was about $11.7 million reduced from about $17.5 million in the same period a year earlier (see October 24 story).