Wolfson, the Scottish microchip maker which makes chips for mobile phones such as Apple's iPhone, gave warning today that its revenues would fall by about 13 per cent this year because of weaker consumer demand.

The company said that the market had continued to weaken since its last update on October 2, which had led to a further deterioration in orders and rescheduling of orders. The microchip market is suffering from lower consumer spending on electronics and an oversupply of products.

In a trading statement, the company said that full-year revenue would be between $196 million (£128 million) and $206 million, compared with $231.6 million last year.

Wolfson also revised down its fourth-quarter revenue estimate for a second time. It now expects revenue of $35 million to $45 million, compared with a target of $45 million to $50 million set just three weeks ago.

Wolfson said that its revenues had fallen 14 per cent to $60.5 million while operating profits fell 63 per cent to $5 million in the three months to the end of September. No full-year profits guidance was given.

The company's share price fell 5p to 65p in morning trading, down 75 per cent from its peak earlier this year.

Dave Shrigley, the chief executive, said: "Wolfson continues to be affected by the unprecedented uncertainty surrounding global consumer confidence, leading customers across a broad range of applications to further scale back their orders to volumes well below normal seasonal patterns."

Mr Shrigley said last month that he would be leaving the company for family reasons. He will be replaced at the end of the year by Mike Hickey, a multimedia specialist from Motorola.

Wolfson has faced several setbacks this year including the loss of a contract with Apple to supply parts to its iPod Touch and iPod Nano devices.

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