Imagination doubles profits year on year

Company benefits from increase in smartphone sales

Imagination's technology is used in the iPhone

British graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies, which designs chips used in Apple’s iPhone, has more than doubled its profits year on year, as smartphone sales continue to soar.

The company, which counts Arm among its competitors, reported revenue of £80.9m and operating profit of £13.3m in the 12 months to the end of April, compared with £4.9m the previous year.

However, the company’s share price fell yesterday after the reported revenue was short of analysts' expectations.

The company saw less revenue than expected in its Pure digital radio division, which recorded a loss of £300,000, slightly worse than its performance in the previous year.

Apple holds a nine per cent stake in the company and Intel owns 15 per cent.