Post-IPO Raspberry Pi results in: So you can make money in tech without added AI

The little computer-that-could benefits as supply chain eases

Raspberry Pi has reported a jump in revenue and profit for the first half of 2024, sending the company's shares soaring despite marginally lower volumes than expected.

Revenue for the first half of 2024 was reported as $144 million, a 61 percent increase from the same period in 2023. Gross profits stood at $34.2 million, up 47 percent.

The results are the first since the organization's IPO took place on the London Stock Exchange in June 2024.

While the figures look impressive, the company is - to a certain extent - riding the wave of easing supply constraints of previous years. During the post-pandemic period in 2023, direct sales accounted for 81 percent of units as shortages of key components held back licensees. In 2024 this dropped to 65 percent, while licensee sales increased to 35 percent.

Unit sales of the diminutive computers leaped to 3.66 million compared to 2.799 million in the same period last year. A chunk of the 31 percent increase was down to the 1.1 million unit sales of the Raspberry Pi 5 and growth in Compute Module sales. Raspberry Pi 4 unit sales declined, as did those of "legacy" boards.

Volumes were therefore marginally lower than expected, but sales were skewed towards higher margin variants.

Away from the big ticket items, the microcontroller business (which includes items such as the Pi Pico boards) also had an uptick in units sold, going from 1.650 million in the first half of 2023 to 2.153 million in 2024. While the units do not command the same prices as other parts of the company's product lines, the increase in volume will bring a smile to the faces of investors, particularly considering the release of the RP2350 and Pi Pico 2 in recent weeks.

The results were this morning rewarded with a rising share price. At the close of trading yesterday, the company's shares stood just under 350p. At the time of writing, they had risen to more than 375 p.

Upton wrote, "Overall, we are encouraged by the resilient performance of the business given the market conditions widely reported by our peers.

"Our expectations for the full year remain unchanged." ®