UK chip design company ARM (LON:ARM) has announced its unaudited Q3 2011 financial figures, for the three months ending September 30.

Revenue was £120.2 million ($192 million), up 20 percent year-on-year.

Profit before tax was £55.8 million, up 47 percent y-o-y.

The company generated £43.7 million in cash during the quarter, while total revenue for the first three quartesr is $568.0 million, up 26 percent (ARM freely mixes dollar and sterling numbers in its accounts).

This growth was driven by 28 processor licensees signed in the quarter, including 14 new customers.

In addition, chip shipment volumes from its licensees were up, 10 percent y-o-y in terms of mobile phones and computers to 1 billion, and up 50 percent to 0.9 billion with respect to consumer and embedded devices.

Wider, deeper

"In the third quarter of 2011, we saw a continued high level of design activity with many new customers licensing ARM technology for the first time, driven by end market requirements for smarter, low-power chips," said CEO Warren East.

"Over the past year we have seen strong growth in shipments of ARM technology-based chips, with a 50 percent increase of shipments into non-mobile markets such as digital TVs, microcontrollers and networking applications.

"Royalty revenues in Q3 have been impacted by the below seasonal growth in the semiconductor industry, but we continue to gain share."

Cash in

The company expects this growth to continue, thanks to its historically high order backlog. Full year sales are predicted to be in line with current market expectations - around $763 million.

ARM ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and short-term deposits of £324 million.

[source: ARM (PDF)]