23rd Apr 2014 08:44
LONDON (Alliance News) - Spirent Communications PLC Wednesday reiterated its expectations of meeting high single-digit organic revenue growth for 2014, as it saw revenue rise in the quarter to end-March, boosted by revenues in its Service Assurance division that were delayed from 2013.
The communications technology company posted a pretax profit of USD8.4 million, up from USD7.6 million a year before, as revenue rose to USD111.9 million from USD96.8 million. This was boosted by the USD12.0 million of delayed revenue.
Acquisitions during the quarter contributed USD1.1 million, Spirent said.
Order intake was up 12% compared to the first quarter of 2013, Spirent said. Gross margin declined to 67.9% from 68.7% during the quarter due to shifts in product mix and the competitive environment.
In its Networks and Applications business, revenue rose to USD50.5 million from USD49.3 million, as Spirent said it saw growth from its infrastructure test optimisation products and services. However, the division swung to an operating loss of USD600,000, compared to a profit of USD1.6 million, due to higher levels of investment and lower gross margin.
In Wireless and Service Experience, revenue was up to USD40.0 million from USD39.3 million, although operating profit in this segment also dropped to USD3.2 million from USD7.7 million due to the higher levels of investment.
Spirent's Services Assurance business posted an operating profit of USD10.9 million, up from USD2.7 million, as revenue was boosted to USD21.4 million from USD8.2 million due to the delayed revenues from 2013.
Spirent had cash of USD163.6 million as at March 31, down from USD216.2 million as at December 31, 2013, hit by the costs of its two acquisitions, DAX Technologies Crop and Testing Technologies IST GmbH.
Shares in Spirent were trading up 6.7% at 103.34 pence, the highest gainer in the FTSE 250.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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