Raspberry Pi shares surge on first update since flotation

Raspberry Pi, the maker of low-cost microcomputers, has reported stronger-than-expected profits in its first financial update since its float on the London Stock Exchange this year.
The company, which raised £178.9 million in an initial public offering in June, reported that year-on-year sales increased by 61 per cent to $144 million in the six months to June 30. Pre-tax profit improved slightly to £10.8 million, from £10.7 million.
Its shares climbed by more than 10 per cent on Tuesday to 384p, following its entry into the FTSE 250 this week.
In the first half of the year the company sold 1.1 million units of its latest model, the Raspberry Pi 5, which was launched in October 2023.
Profitability in the first half was “ahead of internal expectations” and expectations for the full year remain unchanged, it said.
Raspberry Pi was hard hit by supply chain issues caused by the pandemic, particularly in semiconductors. The recovery was largely complete, it said, although disruption was continuing.
“When you’re in a serious shortage of stuff that people really need, people exaggerate the demand,” Eben Upton, chief executive, said. “You see the demand being both multiplied and coming to you from multiple places. It takes you a long time, even after silicon supplies come back, to defeat that piled-up backlog.”
In a note, analysts at Jefferies said: “The ongoing inventory correction and higher expected volumes of lower-value boards point to a slightly weaker second half, leaving full-year expectations unchanged.
“However, with the inventory correction expected to end by the fourth quarter and memory pricing staying favourable, the full year 2025 revenue and earnings outlook looks positive.”
Raspberry Pi was originally set up as a charity, the Raspberry Pi Foundation, in 2008 to get more young people applying for computer science courses at Cambridge University. Upton founded the company, which aims to “put low-cost computing platforms in the hands of enthusiasts and engineers”, alongside Liz Upton, his wife, in 2012. The company funds the foundation, which owns 47 per cent of the business since its float.
Sales increased by 31 per cent following a supply-constrained first half of 2023, with the growth in Raspberry Pi 5 sales, priced at about £78 for the top model, making a significant contribution.
The company said it expected a further increase in sales in the second half. This would be supported by new product launches, including its first focused on AI hardware, developed in partnership with Hailo AI, in June.
In May the company also launched its debut cloud product, Raspberry Pi Connect, which has attracted 50,000 users in its test version. The platform provides remote secure access to Raspberry Pi devices at $6 per device per year.
“Software for us has always been a cost centre, not a profit centre,” Upton said. “This is the first time we’ve built a software product which is actually a profit in itself.
“We went out and did a survey of other offerings in the space. We are bringing a Raspberry Pi ethos, a value ethos, to that space.”