ANT shares slip on slow sales of broadband TV technology

Katie Linsell11 April 2012

Shares in broadband TV group ANT fell 8% today after it warned that revenues would miss City expectations as customers delay decisions on whether to invest in its technology.

ANT, which is working with the BBC and BSkyB, said its revenues for 2010 would fall below last year's £4.7 million. Brokers forecast that the company would take in £4.5 million.

The firm said there had been growing interest in Europe for HbbTV software, which enables viewers to watch internet content from sites such as BBC iPlayer via their remote control's red button. Last year ANT helped set up a consortium of 11 companies across Europe to develop HbbTV.

But the competitive environment caused the company to record a first half operating loss of £514,000 this year.

Cambridge-based ANT has yet to make a profit but says its end-of-year cash position will exceed expectations.

A spokesman said: "Sales cycles have lengthened as people look at contracts for longer and take longer to make decisions. Companies like ours are needing to do a lot more development work on the concept of HbbTV. ANT is a very robust little company and it's just waiting for the market to take off. There are lots of signs it will.

"Royalties will take off in the future once licences pick up but for now the company is very focused on making sure it is financially strong and maintaining cash while waiting for the market to take off."

ANT, which was founded in 1993 by David Fell, the company's chief technical officer, produces set top box software used by companies such as Philips, Sagem, Samsung and Thomson. Its shares fell 2p to 241/2p.