Last night Harris Corp reported its Q2 results for FY10.
Although Harris is considered by most to be a defence company this post looks only at the performance of the company’s Broadcast Communications division.
For those who would like to see information about how the entire Harris business performed, here is a link to the company’s earnings press release.
Here are the highlights of the broadcast communications division for Q2 FY10:
* Broadcast orders orders were $139m, a 12% increase over the previous quarter
* Broadcast revenue was $116.8m, a 2% decrease versus the previous quarter, and a 28% decrease versus the same quarter last year. For the first six months of the FY, Harris broadcast comms revenue was $235.5m, versus $321.2 for the first two quarters of the previous year (a 27% decrease).
* The broadcast comms business reported a $4.8m operating loss for the quarter, versus an operating profit of $12m a year ago. For the first six months of the FY, the Harris broadcast communications division has made an operating loss of $4.5m versus a profit of $17.3m for the first two quarters last year.
On the earnings conference call, Harris CEO Howard Lance said the following about the Broadcast Communications division:
“The sequential flattening of revenue and the rebound in orders in this still very tough market environment were both encouraging and are hopefully signs that we are in fact beginning to see a recovery in the global broadcast markets. As the economy improves and advertising revenues begin to improve, we should see some acceleration in capital spending by global broadcast and media networks.
“Operating performance was impacted by product mix, combined with our increasing investments in new media initiatives, including markets such as mobile TV and digital signage, and higher investments in international markets. These are all areas we believe critical to the future success of this business. We were encouraged by several new wins in the quarter and other initiatives that are underway.”
Interestingly, Lance also again mentioned the company’s VAME (Full-Motion Video Asset Management Engine) initiative, which apparently uses number of broadcast products and technologies to enable government customers capture, store, retrieve, analyze and distribute video intelligence information. Lance says that Harris now has a VAME opportunity pipeline totaling $250 million.
In summing up the outlook for the broadcast business, Lance said that the q/q ”flattening of revenue and the rebound in orders in this still very tough market environment were both encouraging and are hopefully signs that we are in fact beginning to see a recovery in the global broadcast markets. As the economy improves and advertising revenues begin to improve, we should see some acceleration in capital spending by global broadcast and media networks.”
