A national treasure?
ARM's shares are currently trading above £2 for the first time in a while (with one exception - they briefly peaked at 205p after the Apple iPad launch), thanks to its latest earnings beating expectations. But this isn't the only reason ARM will be promoted to the FTSE 100 list of the UK's biggest companies; it has Kraft to thank for that.
With the acquisition of UK chocolate icon Cadbury by US food giant Kraft (did you know Kraft used to be owned by Philip Morris?), Cadbury is no longer an independent company and its shares can't be traded. This means the formerly 101st biggest UK company gets promoted onto the FTSE 100, and that's ARM.
ARM had already anticipated being promoted to the list, but expected it to come at the expense of ITV come the next review date of 10 March. This was considered apposite given current trends in the technology and consumer electronics industries. However, we're confident ARM will be happy to forgo a bit of pleasing symbolism to get its seat at the big table a month earlier.
In other news, ARM announced a strategic partnership with German security technology company Giesecke & Devrient (G&D). This will allow G&D's Mobicore secure operating system to run inside ARM's TrustZone protected area on SoCs, to provide greater security for things like mobile banking and electronic payment.
This signifies as further move by ARM to add value to its processor designs and ensure it continues to grow even as companies like Qualcomm and Apple look to develop as much of their SoC IP as possible in-house.
