The FINANCIAL — Motorola Solutions, Inc. on February 2 reported its earnings results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2016.
SUPPORTING QUOTE
“We ended the year with an outstanding fourth quarter, and I am very encouraged with our strong competitive position and record backlog entering 2017,” said Greg Brown, chairman and CEO of Motorola Solutions.
OTHER SELECT FOURTH-QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS
• Revenue – Sales increased 12 percent, including $124 million in sales from Airwave. Sales grew in every region. The Products segment sales grew 9 percent, with growth in every region. The Services segment grew 18 percent including Airwave, while Managed and Support Services grew 5 percent excluding Airwave.
• Operating margin – GAAP operating margin was 21.4 percent of sales, compared to 23.1 percent of sales in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP operating margin was 28.7 percent of sales, compared with 27.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. The improvement is primarily the result of higher sales.
• Taxes – The GAAP effective tax rate was 33 percent, compared with 26 percent in the year-ago quarter. The prior year’s favorable rate was driven primarily by several discrete one-time items. The non-GAAP tax rate was 31 percent, compared with 31 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015.
• Cash flow – The company generated $513 million in operating cash from continuing operations, up $98 million from the year-ago quarter primarily driven by earnings from higher revenue. Free cash flow1 was up $82 million to $453 million.
• Capital allocation – The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $1.0 billion and a net debt position of approximately $3.4 billion3. The company repaid the $675 million term loan associated with the Airwave acquisition, repurchased $114 million of common stock, paid $68 million in dividends and invested $246 million in acquisitions.
OTHER SELECT FULL-YEAR FINANCIAL RESULTS
• Revenue – Sales increased 6 percent, including $462 million in Airwave sales. These results reflect growth in North America and Asia Pacific in both Products and Services. Growth of 33 percent in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region was driven by Airwave and partially offset by lower revenue in Norway associated with completing the implementation phase of the nationwide project. Latin America was down 20 percent, primarily on iDEN declines and first-half weakness. Products segment sales were down 1 percent compared to the prior year, while the Services segment grew 18 percent on Managed and Support Services strength.
• Operating margin – For the full year, GAAP operating margin was 17.7 percent of sales, compared with 17.5 percent for the prior year. Non-GAAP operating margin was 23.6 percent of sales, compared with 20.5 percent for the prior year, driven by higher revenue and lower operating expenses.
• Taxes – The 2016 GAAP effective tax rate was 33 percent, compared to 30 percent for the prior year. The non-GAAP tax rate was 31 percent, compared with 33 percent in the prior year.
• Cash flow – The company generated $1.2 billion in operating cash from continuing operations, reflecting an increase of $144 million from the prior year. Free cash flow1 was $894 million, up $48 million from the prior year. The increase was driven by higher sales and lower operating costs, partially offset by higher capital expenditures.
• Capital allocation – The company invested $1.3 billion in acquisitions, repurchased approximately $842 million of its common stock and paid $280 million in dividends.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Fourth-quarter strategic wins
• $140 million P25 system deployment for the Washington, D.C. Metro Area Transit Authority
• $60 million P25 system replacement and multiyear services for San Francisco
• $40 million P25 system and devices upgrade unifying eight cities in Argentina
• $17 million Smart Public Safety Solutions sale of computer-aided dispatch equipment, software and multiyear services to Indianapolis
Fourth-quarter innovation and investments in growth
• Acquired Spillman Technologies, a leading provider of comprehensive law enforcement and public safety software solutions, which bolsters the command center portfolio
• Released new P25 and TETRA devices that provide unmatched features and functionality. In addition to form factor enhancements, the radios provide Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and enhanced location services that enable future software and services opportunities
• Following more than three years of collaboration, emergency services in Norway and Sweden conducted their first major cross-border emergency response exercise supported by fully inter-operable multi-vendor radio communications. This land mobile radio (LMR) to LMR cross-border collaboration using different vendor equipment is spurring additional interest from neighboring countries and illustrates the power of the LMR communications platform
BUSINESS OUTLOOK
• First-quarter 2017 – Motorola Solutions expects revenue growth of 3 to 5 percent compared with the first quarter of 2016. This includes approximately $115 million from Airwave versus $61 million in the year-ago quarter. The company expects non-GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations in the range of $0.52 to $0.57 per share.
• Full-year 2017 – The company expects revenue to be up 1 to 2 percent. Airwave revenue is expected to be flat compared with the prior year due to foreign exchange rates. The company expects non-GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations in the range of $5.05 to $5.20 per share.
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