Gennum Reports 2008 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results

Burlington, Ontario (January 29, 2009) - Gennum Corporation (TSX: GND) today announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended November 30, 2008.

For the 2008 fiscal year, consolidated revenue grew by 25% as we experienced growth in all product groups. Gross margin as a percentage of revenue remained strong through to the end of the year as productivity programs and positive revenue mix offset price pressures in the marketplace. Throughout 2008, we continued to invest aggressively in new product development. To drive sales growth, Gennum now has six regional offices and fifteen channel partners, all located close to major customers and fastgrowth markets. Our increased investment in research and development generated twenty seven new products - five times more than we delivered in 2007.

The slow-down in the global economy began to impact the Company's revenue in the fourth quarter. As a result, consolidated revenues showed a sequential decline of about 9% from the prior quarter but were still up 2% over the same quarter in 2007. In addition, the global liquidity crisis has impacted negatively on our investments in Toumaz and Cellpoint Connect. During the quarter, we took an impairment charge against the value of our Toumaz common shares and provided fully against our note, loan receivable and the share repurchase agreement from Cellpoint which, in combination, reduced our after-tax earnings by $2.4 million in the quarter and the year. The earnings per share for the quarter before and after these provisions are included in the table below.

(in millions of U.S. dollars except per share amounts)

Earnings from continuing operations before provisions on loans and investments for the year was $22.0 million, or $0.62 per share, representing a 5.4% increase over 2007. Earnings from continuing operations before provisions on loans and investments for the quarter was $5.1 million compared to $4.9 million for the same period last year.

The cash and cash equivalents balance at November 30, 2008 was $48.7 million, an increase of $14.6 million from the end of the 2007 fiscal year. This increase was primarily due to strong cash from operations, the sale of VXPR in the first quarter of 2008 and the sale of the Company's corporate office land and building in the third quarter of 2008.

"Gennum had an exceptional 2008. I am pleased that our team accomplished many critical milestones including delivering five times as many new products versus the prior year, expanding our customer base and delivering solid financial results, " said Dr. Franz Fink, President and CEO of Gennum Corporation. "As with many of our peers in the semiconductor industry, we are currently seeing a weakening in customer demand as the global economy continues to decline. As a result, we have taken proactive measures to reduce our operating expenses. We are continuing to aggressively fund R&D critical to our long-term success and to deliver a significant number of new products in 2009. Our solid financial position allows us to be flexible in our investments to drive future growth. I am confident that we have the resources to continue to invest in key projects that offer the greatest opportunity to deliver value to our customers and shareholders."

New product introductions and business developments

In the fourth quarter of 2008 and early in 2009, Gennum launched several new products to further expand its CDR and ActiveConnect. portfolio. Gennum participated in new technology demonstrations and announced it is partnering with a leading consumer OEM to integrate ActiveConnect. into nextgeneration HDMI cable products.

• Gennum Partners with Monster Cable to Deliver World's Highest Performance Cabling Solutions - Monster is leveraging Gennum's ActiveConnect. technology for its new Hyper- Speed product line. Monster unveiled six new products that leverage Gennum's ActiveConnect. technology all of which will be available in April of 2009. Monster will use ActiveConnect. technology in its future HDMI cabling and switching solutions in its high performance lines. Additionally, Monster and Gennum jointly demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show, 50 feet of cable that can distribute signals up to 21 gigabits per second (Gbps). The new cabling technology is capable of running twice the rate of today's HDMI 1.3 specification and is the highest performance HDMI cabling technology ever publicly demonstrated.
• Gennum Expands ActiveConnect Product Portfolio with New Connectivity Solution for DisplayPort Cable Products - DisplayPort is rapidly emerging in a variety of electronic devices including laptops, PCs, media servers, DVRs, home theater displays and commercial signage displays. Many of these applications require cables as long as 100 feet and have therefore been unable to take advantage of the multimedia quality that DisplayPort offers. By leveraging ActiveConnect. technology, Gennum can extend DisplayPort Cable Lengths by up to 15 times.
• Gennum Enables High Performance Computing Solution with World's First Quad 10 Gbps Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) Product - Gennum announced the industry's first quad 10 Gbps CDR solution, designed to restore and clean digital signals at extremely high data rates for applications such as next-generation high performance computing and networking interconnects. The end result is the highest level of performance and signal integrity for emerging Inifiniband QDR and 40 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and 100 GbE applications
• Gennum and AMCC Announce Interoperability for High-speed, Power-Efficient Data Center Connectivity - AMCC and Gennum jointly demonstrated interoperability of a new technology which showcases the ability for Service Providers to leverage their existing fiber base to enable 10 Gbps Ethernet traffic over much farther distances, while significantly reducing their hardware investment. Gennum's innovative Receive Optical Sub-Assembly (ROSA) solution provides unparalleled performance in a low cost, plug-and-play single assembly that is enabling 10GbE adoption.

Outlook
Analysts, such as Gartner Dataquest, Citigroup, and Inside Chips, have published forecasts that show declines ranging from 16-28% for the semiconductor industry in 2009. Recent outlooks from several semiconductor companies are indicating the declines to be more significant in the early part of 2009.

Looking ahead, we also anticipate a significantly weaker first quarter due to lower product demand and the impact of our customers and channel partners working through excess inventory. However, as we move through 2009, we expect overall decline in demand for our products to be in line with general industry conditions.

We reacted to this market weakness by identifying and implementing productivity improvements which will enable Gennum to minimize the impact of lower revenue on our bottom-line results in fiscal 2009.

Specifically, we are exploring strategic alternatives for our BST technology and related assets. We are further reducing our operating expense by freezing 2009 salary increases, minimizing capital expenditures and optimizing sales, marketing and administrative programs and roles not tightly aligned with short and mid-term customer revenue generation activities or new product development. All of these actions are intended to preserve our Company's profitability and the strong foundation that we have built.

Our solid financial position allows us to be flexible in our investments to drive future growth. We are confident that we have the resources to continue to invest in key projects that offer the greatest opportunity to deliver value to our customers and shareholders. Specifically in 2009, we will continue to make strategic investments in research and development enabling us to deliver a significant number of new products, capitalize on new customer opportunities and grow our leadership in our target markets.

We are having good initial traction with our expanded product portfolio in new adjacent markets such as consumer connectivity. Additionally, our refreshed core portfolio is enabling us to secure new customers in our traditional broadcast, data communication and IP markets. Related revenue for new products, however, is expected to start small and gradually grow as we move into the second half of 2009 and into 2010.

2008 has been a year in which Gennum delivered strong financial results, expanded its global presence, introduced a record number of new products and added to its portfolio of semiconductor IP. We believe our signal integrity expertise puts us in a unique position to capitalize on critical inflection points in highgrowth markets where there is a growing need to deliver more bandwidth intensive data at increasing speeds.

Despite current industry challenges, we believe that Gennum is well positioned for long-term growth beyond 2009. With our continued product development plans, we expect to exit 2009 with an even stronger product portfolio and market position. Combined with the strategic use of our strong capital position, we believe that Gennum is on the right path to create shareholder value.

Dividend
Gennum's Board of Directors has declared a regular cash dividend of 3.5 cents per share Canadian to be paid on February 25, 2009 to shareholders of record on February 11, 2009. The dividend is considered an "eligible dividend" for tax purposes.

Download the complete financial results (PDF)

About Gennum
Gennum Corporation (TSX: GND) designs innovative semiconductor solutions and intellectual property (IP) cores for the world’s most advanced consumer connectivity, enterprise, video broadcast and data communications products. Leveraging the company’s proven optical, analog and mixed-signal products and IP, Gennum enables multimedia and data communications products to send and receive information without compromising the signal integrity. An award winner for advances in high definition (HD) broadcasting, Gennum is headquartered in Burlington, Canada, and has global design, research and development and sales offices in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Germany, United States, Taiwan, India and the United Kingdom. www.Gennum.com.

Gennum Media Contact:
Keri Fraser
Gennum Corporation
613-270-0458 x 2909
keri.fraser@gennum.com

Gennum Investor Relations Contact:
Gord Currie
Senior Vice-President, Finance & Administration and CFO
Gennum Corporation
(905) 632-2999 x3060
gord.currie@gennum.com

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains statements which constitute forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not descriptive of historical matters and refer to management’s expectations or plans. These statements include but are not limited to statements concerning: Gennum’s plans and expectations relating to improvements in profitability and cash flow and the achievement of business model targets and levels, the reduction of corporate and operations costs and capital expenditures and marketing, sales and administration expenses; expected operational expense savings and estimated severance and related costs, and the estimated charges relating thereto and to impairments; and Gennum’s business objectives and future financial performance and prospects. Inherent in forward-looking statements are risks and uncertainties beyond Gennum’s ability to predict or control including but not limited to risks associated with: Gennum’s ability to complete the actions referred to in this news release within anticipated timeframes and to successfully realize the expected improvements therefrom; compliance with local employment legislation and requirements and the possible initiation and outcome of legal proceedings; and other risks facing Gennum’s business including competitive and pricing pressures and economic cycles in the semiconductor industry, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and their potential adverse impact upon Gennum’s financial results, and Gennum’s ability to attract and retain key personnel necessary for its business. Please also refer to the sections entitled “Risks and Uncertainties” in Gennum’s 2008 annual report and “Risk Factors” in Gennum’s annual information form dated February 23, 2009. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. Such statements are based on a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect including but not limited to the following assumptions: Gennum is able to successfully complete the actions referred to herein within the timeframe and with associated expense savings generally as anticipated and without unforeseen significant costs or delays; assumptions relating to severance and related costs and to charges; customer demand for Gennum’s products remains generally as anticipated; Gennum’s is able to execute its product roadmap without delays or disruptions having a material impact on Gennum; Gennum’s expectations relating to competitive pressures, including pricing pressures, are not materially incorrect; significant fluctuations in foreign exchange rates which significantly adversely affect Gennum’s financial results do not arise; and Gennum is able to continue to retain and attract technical and other key employees. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of important factors and assumptions is not exhaustive. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Events or circumstances could cause Gennum’s actual results to differ materially from those estimated or projected and expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Consequently, readers should not place any undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management’s current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. In addition, these forward-looking statements relate to the date on which they are made. Gennum disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or the foregoing list of factors, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by law.