Technology winners of 2013

Our Winners and Losers of 2013 series takes a look at the highs and lows of the main markets over the last year. Here we look at the top performers in the technology sector.

With several technology companies seeing their share price rise by several hundred per centage points, we examine some of the firms that have managed to carve out a niche in an increasingly crowded sector. 

Seeing Machines +311.76%

After a quiet start to the year, shares in Seeing Machines first began to rise in August, when the company reported a return to profit. It made a pre-tax profit  of AUD$550,000 (£268,000) in the full year to 30 June, from a loss of AUD$1.7 million the previous year.

The company, which creates computer vision processing technologies to allow machines to see and track human faces, continued to rise in September when it won a AUD$1.5 million contract with BHP Billiton for technology to monitor fatigue and distraction in the miner's drivers.

It has since found a number of other buyers for its fatigue and distraction monitoring solution, including miner Cliffs Natural Resources in Australia and Euopean coach fleet operator Royal Beuk, causing its shares to continue to climb from October until the end of the year.    

Xaar +292.63%

A feature on Richard Beddard's Watchlist since April, Xaar saw steady growth for the first half of 2013 as the industrial inkjet printer manufacturer saw success in the ceramic market, which it says it dominates.

It saw a steep rise in June after announcing that accelerating demand for its technology had resulted in very strong product sales in the January-May period. As a result it raised its full-year guidance, expecting full-year revenue for 2013 to grow around 50% above the £86.3 million achieved in 2012.

So far recorded revenues have given Xaar no reason to make any change to these forecasts, and the share price has risen in tandem. However, Beddard has not moved the company from the Watchlist into his Share Sleuth virtual portfolio, noting in August that growth is likely to be "lumpy" and waiting for an opportunity to add the shares "at a more reasonable price".

Telit Communications +233.39%

Despite positive financial news from the beginning of the year, with full-year revenues for 2012 announced to be up by 16.8% in January, shares in Telit Communications only began to move upwards in September.

The initial move was prompted by Telit's acquisition of US-based ILS Techonology on 4 September. ILS had developed a cloud platform which provided a massive boost to Telit's business of supplying wireless machine-to-machine communication.

This was followed by more positive financial results, including an 107.4% increase in first-half pre-tax profit to $5.6 million (£3.39 million) and, despite a drop in early December, it looks likely that Telit will end the year on a high.

CSR +88.20%

Wireless technology provider CSR had a more successful start to the year than some of its fellow high performers in the technology sector, but it has also had a rockier road to travel.

Its first steep rise was in February, when the company announced a 15% increase in its full-year dividend and record underlying revenue of $1.03 billion (£0.62 billion). It rose again on a jump in underlying operating profits in July (up to $58.4 million from $26.6 million in the equivalent period of 2012), but the share price then dipped for most of the second half, coinciding with a lull in news.

However, the shares have recently seen a recovery, with the appointment of former WH Smith chairman Walker Boyd as a non-executive director in December generating renewed interest in the company.

Pure Wafer +82.50%

Although strong financial announcements in March and July had little effect on Pure Wafer's share price, the market suddenly reacted in September when the company revealed that full-year pre-tax profits would be significantly ahead of expectations due to sustained high levels of demand.

The company, which provides wafer recycling services for semiconductor manufacturers, made good on this promise in October as it recorded full-year pre-tax profit of $3.0 million, up from $0.5 million in 2012. This prompted a further share price rise.

With little further news the shares have slumped slightly coming into the end of the year, but Pure Wafer announced at the end of November that trading was still strong and that the capacity of its manufacturing facility in Swansea was due to increase in January 2014.

For more in the series, read: Technology losers of 2013, Mining winners of 2013, Mining losers of 2013, Oil and gas winners of 2013, Oil and gas losers of 2013, Sector winners of 2013, Sector losers of 2013.