Iqe Share Discussion Threads

[belt n braces] 13/1/2019 21:42

As a shorter of this company (and a holder of an accountancy qualification), in my view the negative comments by sheep-herder in regards to the appointment of Tim Pullen is out of order. Say the man was actually surplus to requirements of ARM, which may well be doubtful in any case, you have to remember the following:

The Beatles were originally turned down by Decca,

Sir Alex Ferguson was sacked by St Mirren, with the owner at that club stating that Ferguson had very little managerial talent,

Warren buffet was turned down by a top business school (I think maybe Harvard).


So best of luck to Tim Pullen, as a CA he already has a brilliant qualification and any background knowledge he has gained via ARM would indeed be an invaluable asset to IQE.

[arcadian] 13/1/2019 17:44

Perhaps he really works for Huawei or the Chinese government. I`m really worried now. Sheepy knows some top people including Sweenoid..

[yankeekraut] 13/1/2019 16:25

The piffle about Tim Pullen being a "fifth column" agent for Softbank at IQE is ridiculous. Honestly, I think Phil's biggest coup was the placement at 1.40 in Nov. 2017. Considering the current SP, looks like a genius move. The balance sheet looks MUCH better as a result. I would like to know the status of IQE's legal case against their former auditor (IQE got hit with an unexpected 4 mil. tax payment, although their accounts & financial filings were signed off by said company).

[mhassanriaz] 13/1/2019 15:14

Let us not forget that Tim's appointment was confirmed 2 months ago. He must have started looking into the business with greater interest and may have been addressed about a few key issues if not developments. First 90 days will be key so lets see what he does. We got what we needed and lets not compare. Phil was an asset and his death was a great loss to IQE and even bigger to his family. RIP. prayers!!

[dr_smith] 13/1/2019 13:03

I agree with Poombear.
Whatever, we think we have b*gger all influence, though it does influence our expectations for the future.
Given that the tragically departed Phil can't come back to his post imo makes the debate pointless even if we did have clout.
IQE appointed Phil at a different stage it's life cycle and if there were to be debate about suitability of Mr Pullen, than current peers available now would be more appropriate, but even then, we have no influence.

I do see the CFO at IQE (whoever that is) needing strengths against a bread and butter CFO, to manage the inflection of sudden high demand with need for high cost capital eqipment with long lead in time. There is also the question as to how contracts are framed given the long payback of customer specific machines and whether licensing model or a hybrid would be advantagous.

There is also the reputational aspect of CFO with City.

Even a CFO knowing the theory to maximise their revenue would need the balls , confidence and tenacity to sway the BOD to take a different direction. If the CFO had a track record of morphing busines models in this way, the BOD could go out on a limb, and put their trust in him/her and say "OK, we're not sure, but we put our trust in you".
Without that track record, a non-standard approach reccomended by CFO would be scarier for the BOD to reccomend/endorse. It will likely take several months or more, for that bond of trust, faith etc to establish, then the (techy) BOD are more inclined to give the nod on new ways forward, new initiatives, on matters that are likely quite divorced from their own areas of expertise.

IMO.
I'll sit and wait and do some decorating in the meantime. ;-)

[poombear] 13/1/2019 12:20

Not sure it's worth debating the same moot point. Let's see how he gets on.

[diplomat65] 13/1/2019 11:44

I agree that speculating about Tim Pullen's appointment as a precursor to a bid for IQE coming from SoftBank is fanciful - I introduced that unlikely outcome at the outset. However, as CotswoldSparky rightly identified, Tim comes to IQE from ARM a main market-listed company, heavily involved in the semiconductor industry, unlike his predecessor who was previously a chartered accountant with PwC. A statement issued by IQE at the time of Phil's appointment in January 2007 makes for an interesting comparison of each individual's professional background and relevance to the sector in which IQE hold a global lead:"IQE, the Cardiff stock market listed company has recruited Phil Rasmussen - who is director of transaction services with accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in Bristol.Mr Rasmussen, 36, will take up his new role in March. He will succeed Stuart Hall, who has decided to return to the North of England with his family, where he was based prior to joining IQE, to take up a senior finance role. During his career with PwC, Mr Rasmussen spent two years in Toronto, Canada, and has gained significant experience of working with and advising a broad range of companies in a variety of sectors, including multinational main market and Aim-listed companies. He holds a first class honours degree in mathematics from Cardiff University."You claim Tim Pullen was ineffective in his role at ARM Sheepy but how much more effective will he be in his early time with IQE than a 33-year old chartered accountant could have proved to be when he joined back in 2007. I say the odds are in Tim's favour.This is how IQE announced the arrival of the more experienced Tim Pullen -"Mr Pullen is currently Chief Financial Officer of ARM Limited, a global semiconductor and software design company owned by Softbank Group. During his time at the company, Mr Pullen has been focused on executing the investment strategy and scaling the company's finance and business capabilities."Tim Pullen sounds an excellent appointment to me and I wish him well in his new role. Whether his relationship with SoftBank via his time at ARM encourages a bid from Vision Fund remains to be seen. Either way, we look set for an exciting year with IQE.

[tomduck] 12/1/2019 23:08

Sheepy backtracking now huh ;)

[maxwellsdemon] 12/1/2019 21:46

Apple reportedly planning three iPhones for 2019, one with new triple-camera syste
New cameras to compete with Android handsets
By Tom Warren@tomwarren Jan 11, 2019, 5:48am EST

...........Renders of a triple-camera iPhone leaked last week, with OnLeaks claiming Apple will introduce such a system later this year. It’s not clear what an additional camera at the rear of an iPhone will enable, but the rumors have emerged after reports that Sony is boosting its 3D camera output for chips that will power rear-facing 3D cameras on smartphones in 2019...........

It looks as if the long awaited "world facing" 3D camera it about to appear.

[maxwellsdemon] 12/1/2019 21:14

I suspect the camera (produced by Sony) and the VCSEL array(s) light source could be
(or are) supplied separately.

On the back of the smart phone the light source and the camera may also be physically separated.

Note that in the Lucid system (link below) there are four VCSEL diode array sources. (It says four VCSEL laser diodes but I am fairly confident they mean four VCSEL arrays)




......LUCID’s Helios ToF 3D camera has four 850nm VCSEL laser diodes and integrates Sony’s new DepthSense™ IMX556PLR back-illuminated ToF image sensor with high NIR sensitivity, 10μm pixel size and high modulation contrast ratio. The camera can produce depth data at 60 frames per second with 640×480 resolution over a PoE Gigabit Ethernet interface. It is compliant with the GigE Vision and GeniCam 3D standard for ease of integration using LUCID’s Arena SDK or third-party machine vision software........

[mhassanriaz] 12/1/2019 20:28

is Sony our customer indirectly ? IQE engaged with 25 customers ? has anyone be signed up ? I know Lumentum Ocalaro deal with help us. However, if we have so much in the pipeline why isn't there any increase in guidance. £160m in revenue or £200m forecast in 2019 enough ? the board they are expanding based on the demand and customers getting on board then there should be boost in guidance? The board need to answer these questions ?

[maxwellsdemon] 12/1/2019 19:26

Sony boosts 3D camera output amid industry interest
January 3, 2019 | 12:02 am

..............Sony’s bullish outlook for 3D cameras provides much needed optimism to the global smartphone industry, which is suffering a slowdown as consumers find fewer reasons to upgrade devices. The Tokyo-based company has started providing software toolkits to outside developers so they can experiment with the chips and create apps that generate models of faces for communication or virtual objects for online shopping...................................



VCSELs integrate micro lens array for 3D sensing
December 18, 2018 // By Julien Happich






Dec 30, 2018, 09:40pm
Apple Working On Long Range '3D Camera' For 2019 iPhone

..........In a major scoop, Bloomberg has revealed Apple is working with Sony to integrate long distance 3D cameras into its next-generation iPhones. This is technology, with the potential to transform photography, security and gaming. Furthermore, the source couldn’t be better: Bloomberg spoke to Sony itself...........

[william_quinn] 12/1/2019 17:53

post removed.

[aphrodites] 12/1/2019 16:29

CotsworldSparky

With your worldly experience you should know by now that when a CFO resigns from a major company it is quite normal to put him on 3-months gardening leave with full pay.

And as for ARM's website, quite clearly it will not be updated until he is off their pay books.

That should explain everything to you.

[cotswoldsparky] 12/1/2019 14:28

Sheep Herder,

"...this board gets quite a lot of information from me that you wouldn't normally have.."

Information is based on facts...I don't see any facts in any of your posts about Tim Pullen, just unsubstantiated opinions and BS.

'Surplus to requirements or ineffective' still doesn't explain the 3 month delay in starting at IQE. He's still listed on ARM's website as CFO ( so it would appear that he's still working out a notice period. You would have thought ARM would happily let him leave earlier if he wasn't wanted.

As for relevant experience, you only have to look at his Linkedin profile to see he has a lot more relevant experience than Phil Rasmussen had when he joined IQE. Still, let's not let facts get in the way of a good rant, shall we

CS

[bocase] 12/1/2019 12:48

Another pathetic article from Motley Fool.

There is no mention of IQE's other customers and applications.....just all about apple. With Apple making up an estimated 20% of IQE's sales only, it is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things particularly with other applications coming on stream fast.

With this level of misunderstanding in the market, the share price is artificially depressed making it a good time to buy.

[sheep_herder] 12/1/2019 11:19

Tom, this board gets quite a lot of information from me that you wouldn't normally have. You can take it or leave it or make up fanciful stories like Diplomat does. Working in the industry has its benefits that mug punters like yourself don't have. ;-)

What I will say is that I don't think he's useless or was a failure. Perhaps a polite way of putting it was surplus to requirements or ineffective. Does that mean he'll be useless for IQE, certainly not. Does it mean he has loads of relevant experience and is a high powered coup for IQE, certainly not. He might excel in a small company where he has the freedom of the board but it will be a steep learning curve for someone without much relevant experience.

[tomduck] 12/1/2019 10:17

I don’t think anyone is seriously saying he was sent by ARM but what SHEEPHERDER is saying is that ARM didn’t want him, he was a failure, soiled goods being thrown out to IQE. I guess The SHEEP knows these things as he knows it all 🐑 😉

[cotswoldsparky] 11/1/2019 20:23

WALOB about Tim Pullen. His appointment was announced on 15 October and he is starting on 4 February. Conclusion: he had a 3 month notice period and fancied a couple of weeks holiday before starting a new job.

If he was 'sent by ARM/Softbank' for whatever reason, why wait 3 months?

CS

[mhassanriaz] 11/1/2019 14:44

I think shorters have huge margin of safety here and will only melt on material positive news from IQE wait until the new CFO moves in and uses his black book to further secure more revenues streams. Boars definitely needs a Business Director we have enough technical experts in the group.

[adejuk] 11/1/2019 13:43

i wonder why the shorters don't close
it couldn't get any worse - could it?
oh dear

[adejuk] 11/1/2019 10:39

we can more or less discount eoy results
the next tu is likely to be the catalyst

[compo62] 11/1/2019 10:12

The UK Short Interest Tracker table is now topped by "the UK's No. 1 CFD Broker"... Ironic?