Harris Corp posted their Q1 2010 results today.
While the company reported strong results overall, revenue from the broadcast division declined on both a quarterly and annual basis.
The Harris broadcast division earned an operating profit of $300k on revenue of $119m, versus $130m in Q4 of FY09 (-8%) and $158m one year ago (-25%).
On the analyst conference call Harris CEO Howard Lance said:
* The first fiscal quarter is normally the lowest for HRS broadcast division
* The positive profitability of the broadcast division was achieved on substantially lower revenue than the prior year first quarter, primarily as the result of significant cost reduction actions taken in FY2009
* The business has “bottomed out from the perspective of quarterly revenue and income and we don’t expect to see results decline any further going foreword, however we are cautious regarding the recovery timetable since so much hinges on a rebound in advertising revenue and the subsequent resumption in capital spending by our broadcast and media customers.”
The earnings press release can be found here.
To save you the time, here’s the relevant text from the press release
Broadcast Communications
First quarter orders in the Broadcast Communications segment were $124 million and were greater than revenue and about even with orders in the fourth quarter of the prior year. First quarter revenue in the segment was $119 million, compared with $130 million in the prior-year fourth quarter and $158 million in the prior-year first quarter. Continued weakness in the first quarter was expected and reflects the global economy and delayed capital spending by broadcast and media customers, as well as seasonally slow spending, primarily in Europe and the Middle East.
Operating income in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 was $.3 million and was achieved on substantially lower revenue as a result of significant cost-reduction actions implemented during fiscal 2009.
Key program wins in the quarter included transmitters for the rollout of DTV networks in Rwanda and Mexico; complete Harris ONE(TM) solutions for Meredith Corporation’s central-casting hub in Phoenix and the Home Shopping Channel in South Korea; and multiple orders for China Central Television (CCTV).
Also during the quarter, Harris was awarded a contract from Lockheed Martin to provide systems for the U.S. Joint Forces Command, which will use highly advanced broadcast technologies to help collect, manage, process, exploit and disseminate full-motion video. The system provides increased visibility into the vast amounts of real-time and archived video that is collected from manned and unmanned aircraft and ground-based sensors. The Harris system incorporates its proprietary FAME(TM) (Full-Motion Video Asset Management Engine) technology, which has broad applications in government and commercial markets
You can listen to a replay of the conference call here – the comments about the broadcast division can be found at around 15:20. Please note that there is very little discussion of the broadcast business on this call as most talk is about tactical radios for military applications.