The new chief executive at Newport Beach-based chipmaker Conexant Systems Inc. delivered his first quarterly results on Thursday, with the company reporting lower sales and a lessened loss.
Daniel Artusi, who joined at the start of July, also delivered a terse but cautious outlook for the current quarter, saying the company needs to “dramatically improve our financial performance as quickly as possible.”
Shares of Conexant were down about 3% in afterhours trading with a market value of about $640 million.
For the quarter ended June 29, Conexant reported sales of $179.5 million, down 10% from a year earlier. The company lost $35 million, down from a $133 million loss a year ago.
Minus some onetime charges, Conexant lost $20 million in the quarter.
For the current quarter, Conexant said it sees revenue coming in flat with the recently ended quarter.
“In the next few weeks, I plan to continue deepening my understanding of Conexant’s business and operations,” Artusi said. “We will be making significant changes in the near future, and we will communicate those changes at the appropriate time.”
Artusi took over July 9 for longtime Conexant boss Dwight Decker, who’s now chairman.
For the past few weeks, Artusi has been familiarizing himself with Conexant’s customers and analysts.
He previously was chief executive of privately held ColdWatt Inc. of Austin, Texas.
Before that, Artusi spent four years at Austin-based chip designer Silicon Laboratories Inc., including a year as chief executive. He joined Silicon Laboratories in 2001 from what now is Freescale Semiconductor Inc., a Motorola Inc. spinoff based in Austin.
