Imagination Technologies sells Pure digital radio business for £2.6m

29th Sep 2016 08:27

(ShareCast News) - Imagination Technologies said trading in the first quarter continues to be in line with the board's expectations and announced an agreement to sell its Pure digital radio business to Austria's AVenture AT for £2.6m in cash as it looks to reduce debt.The company said the deal also grants the buyer an option to buy one of Imagination's properties in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, for £4.5m.In the year to 30 April, Pure made a pre-tax loss of £7.9m and had gross assets of £5.2m.Imagination said the performance of its continuing operations in the first quarter of the financial year to 30 April 2017 continues to be in line with the board's expectations.Meanwhile, the sale of other non-core cash consuming activities is progressing with ongoing discussions with several interested parties. A small part of IMG Systems was sold earlier in September for minimal consideration.Chief executive Andrew Heath said: "With the difficulties of last year behind us, continuing operations have traded in line with expectations in the first quarter."I would like to thank the staff of Pure for their contribution to Imagination over the years and wish them, and Pure's new owners, well for the future. The sale underlines the group's focus on its core IP licensing activities."Back in July, Imagination - which designs chips for the likes of Apple - said it swung to a loss for the year ended 30 April as revenue dropped amid a significant restructuring of the business.The company reported a pre-tax loss of £63.2m from a profit of £2.2m the year before, as revenue declined 23% to £120m.Numis said the consideration for the Pure business was a little less than expectations, which were in the range of £5m to £10m.At 1150 BST, the shares were down 3.6% to 237.58p.