17th Jan 2025 09:06
(Alliance News) - Spirent Communications PLC on Friday reported an increase in fourth-quarter orders as the UK Competition & Markets Authority scrutinises its planned takeover by Keysight Technologies Inc.
The Crawley, England-based provider of testing and assurance services said revenue for the fourth quarter and second half ended December 31 was up 5%, as the firm saw a "strong uptick" in order growth in the final quarter.
Revenue for all of 2024 is anticipated to be down 3.0% to about USD460 million from USD474 million in 2023.
Supported by good progress in customer diversification, Spirent said it returned to growth in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa throughout 2024, offsetting a decline in China.
Spirent said it expects to increase its focus on growing its customer base in various geographies in Asia, including Japan and India, with it anticipating further progress in 2025.
Adjusted operating profit for 2024 is expected to be similar with 2023's figure of GBP45.2 million, as the firm "continued to manage costs carefully" throughout 2024.
Spirent said the new financial year has commenced with a growing orderbook, and noted the emergence of growth opportunities across its customer end markets.
Friday's trading update come on the heels of the UK Competition & Markets Authority on Thursday launching a merger inquiry into the planned takeover of Spirent by Keysight.
The deadline for the phase 1 decision of the investigation is set for March 13.
In March, Spirent said it agreed to a GBP1.16 billion all-cash takeover from the Santa Rosa, California-based manufacturer of electronics test and measurement equipment and software. The offer valued Spirent at 201.5 pence per share, composed of 199.0p in cash and 2.5p in a special dividend.
The FTSE 250 stock was up 0.3% at 177.00 pence on Friday morning in London.
Chief Executive Eric Updyke said: "Momentum picked up in the latter part of the financial year. Good progress was made in customer diversification and the recent launch of new products has started to achieve traction. In particular, our AI solutions for high-speed Ethernet are already delivering growth, and we secured more logos for assurance products from the financial services sector."
The firm intends to report its full-year results on March 4.
By Christopher Ward, Alliance News reporter
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