Gregory Q. Brown
Analyst · Citigroup
Thanks, Ed. As previously stated, Government sales for the quarter declined $8 million from Q2 2012, or 1%. Profitability for the business increased with operating earnings of 17.6% of sales compared to 16.4% in Q2 of last year. In our ASTRO portfolio, total sales declined single digits off of last year's comparable record 20% growth rate. Having said that, new infrastructure -- new system infrastructure sales actually increased over Q2 last year. We had a number of new wins during the quarter, including an $88 million contract with Maricopa County, Arizona to implement a digital radio communications network with coverage across the county. The Phase 2 TDMA network will replace a 15-year-old system and increase capacity with the available spectrum. We also received a $20 million order from the City of Phoenix Regional Wireless Cooperative to upgrade their 13-year-old ASTRO system that serves the interoperable communications needs of first responders and other municipal users in 19 cities, towns and fire districts. In Canada, we were awarded a $28 million contract with the York Region in Toronto to replace a 20-year-old system and another with the City of Québec for $10 million. And Carroll County, Maryland awarded us a contact for a $12 million system upgrade. The P25 standard and our ASTRO portfolio continue to extend beyond North America into over 60 countries. For example, the Taiwan Coast Guard selected us for a $10 million ASTRO system, and the Kuwait Ministry of Defense awarded us a $17 million contract for an upgrade to ASTRO 7.14, our newest infrastructure product scheduled for Q4 release. This latest version of our ASTRO system includes enhanced mission-critical redundancy and a seamless migration path that can be performed with no system downtime. The system architecture is also designed for improved serviceability and scalability, including future LTE upgrades. Mission-critical users expect technology that must be intuitive to use, easy to deploy, interoperable with legacy systems and future-proof. And we continue to innovate around these requirements while tailoring our portfolio for adjacent verticals. For example, Entergy, a large utility in the South is investing in a $44 million ASTRO 25 Phase 2 TDMA network to replace their legacy analog platform. The new system consists of APX radios and dispatch consoles for daily requirements, as well as communications during storm restoration. And the Imperial Irrigation District in the California desert, a community-owned electric and water utility, recently chose us for their ASTRO system. The Port of Seattle's $4 million investment in an ASTRO system this quarter is another example of our radio systems used to secure medical, mission-critical infrastructure. Our TETRA portfolio grew strong double digits in total, driven by new systems and installation. We had several notable wins in TETRA during the quarter as well. In Singapore, the Ministry of Home Affairs recently awarded a contract for a Next Generation Nationwide Network and selected our latest broadband-ready TETRA digital radio technology. The initial phase of the award is valued at $79 million for us and our local consortium partner to deploy the nationwide network, which will serve the police and Singapore Civil Defence Force with a total of 42,000 officers. Other TETRA awards include Entropia Digital, a Dutch network operator serving commercial users such as transportation, utilities and power generation industries, and we had continued success in the rail transportation market, with large awards from Shatin Central rail in Hong Kong for $15 million and Taiwan High Speed Rail for $8 million. At Critical Communications World in Paris, we introduced our next generation of TETRA infrastructure, including the first combined TETRA and LTE base station. This innovative solution is designed to facilitate a cost-effective and staged migration to a unified TETRA and LTE network. It equips network operators for future needs and gives them flexibility to choose when and where to add LTE to their core networks and on which frequency. Our professional and commercial radio sales were down slightly compared to Q2 2012, where we had record double-digit growth. We continue to tier our PCR portfolio around the digital platform. Several years ago, we were the first introduce a digital radio in the professional market and today our MOTOTRBO is the most widely deployed adopted digital platform, with more than 2,000 systems deployed and 2 million units sold globally. We're extending MOTOTRBO and bringing benefits of digital, such as better capacity, coverage and voice quality, to additional tiers as well. This expanded MOTOTRBO lineup will bring digital features to an existing install base that is still about 90% analog today. In terms of new contract awards for PCR, we've seen continued rollout across multiple production facilities in North America for Chrysler utilizing MOTOTRBO, and General Mills is also deploying it for their on-site communications. We continue to invest in applications and control points that are important tools for public safety, like the command center. We released our PremierOne Next Generation 9-1-1 Call Control solution designed to transform incident management operations by integrating CAD and 9-1-1 systems, eliminating data entry for dispatchers during emergency calls and improving their focus and productivity. Another area where public safety is incorporating more technology is in the police vehicle as an integrated communications hub. We recently made a very small but strategic acquisition of 54ward Integrated Solutions, a provider of software and hardware interface components that connect in-vehicle public safety equipment, including radio, light and siren, radar, license place recognition and mobile computing. And our Real-Time Crime Center solution was featured at the recent annual Conference of Mayors in Las Vegas, where their Technology and Innovation Task Force explored the topic of using data and analytics to fight crime. Finally, wrapping up our Government results for the quarter, the business continues to perform well and the demand drivers of an aged legacy infrastructure and its corresponding need for upgrades continue. Now moving on to the Enterprise segment. Sales in Enterprise were $656 million, a decrease of 5% from Q2 of last year. Operating earnings declined to 11.9% of sales from 16% last year, driven by negative leverage from lower sales, Psion sales and lower iDEN revenues. Enterprise sales results were driven by double-digit declines in the enterprise mobile computing portfolio, excluding iDEN, an expected iDEN decline of $31 million, a mid-single-digit decline in data capture and a mid-single-digit decline in WLAN. Our uniqueness in Enterprise is characterized by designing technology around the specific user experiences, whether it's for a truck driver at a logistics company or a manager or customer in a retail store. Integration with legacy applications is also vital for our customers, many of whom have millions of dollars in back-office investments that they intend to leverage. A great example of this is our work that we're doing with Tesco. They continue to rollout our MC17 devices with a $3 million order to expand their scan-as-you-shop program across large-format stores in the U.K. The MC17 also supports their dotcom program, which enables shoppers to have groceries delivered to their door. Tesco is piloting our new SB1 Smart Badge and mobile workforce management software with their customer service teams to improve in-store communication and customer response times. One area of strength for Enterprise this quarter was in Asia Pac, Middle East, where the business grew double digits. We had several new wins in the region, with retailers like Coles Supermarkets for $3 million, Kmart Australia for $2 million. And our new value tier MC2100 positioned us well to win a $3 million award for China Post, and a $1 million order for Deppon Logistics in China. And Australia Post continued their deployment of our MC67 devices with another $5 million order. We've also updated several of our industrial mobile computing products. We recently introduced the MC9200, an expansion to the world's most popular industrial mobile computing product, with more than 2 million devices shipped over the last decade. We also released a new imaging device built on the legacy of our most popular scanner. This next-generation linear imager expands our portfolio to provide another option for retailers looking to read both printed 1D bar codes and electronic bar codes displayed on mobile device screens, a common application for loyalty cards and mobile coupons. We've seen encourage -- encouraging early demand indicators from the channel for this specific product. Two new Psion products are designed for use in cold temperatures, freezers and cold storage environments, which are common in perishable food and medical industries, present some of the most extreme specs for computing hardware. United States Cold Storage recently chose these devices for their requirements. With respect to some of our new expansion products, we've engaged with numerous customer pilots. We remain enthusiastic about the opportunity associated with these products, but the rate of sales conversion has taken longer than we initially anticipated. The Android-based MC40 multifunction device that's designed for inventory management, as well as point-of-sale and voice, had several pilot deployments among major retailers in Europe and North America, while the SB1 is deployed at a major shoe retailer at 130 locations in North America and a pharmacy chain with several locations here in the U.S. We won a $7 million project with Canadian Tire to deploy more than 5,000 of our devices in their stores as a digital hub for an improved customer shopping experience as well. Moving on to the regional results this quarter for the total company. With respect to the Americas, North America sales declined 1% with continued strength in Government, up single digits, while the Enterprise business declined high-single digits in North America. Following a terrific quarter in Q1, Latin America was down 24%, off of a tough compare last year where Government actually grew over 40%. Large deals can drive quarterly variability in this region based on its relative small size. However, we remain confident in the double-digit growth outlook for the full year for Latin America, excluding iDEN. Turning to Europe and Africa, we grew 4%, driven by single-digit growth in both Government and Enterprise. Excluding Psion, the Enterprise business declined double digits. And finally, in Asia Pac and Middle East, sales declined 2%, with a high-single-digit decline in Government and double-digit growth in Enterprise. Sales in China were up double digits. These regional results were consistent with our Q2 expectations as we make progress at returning this region to growth for the full year. I made 2 trips during the quarter to this region, meeting with customers and government officials and our new leadership team, and I'm encouraged about our continued gaining momentum in that area. Our Services line of business grew single digits in Q2. We renewed several significant support agreements for systems, including the East Bay Regional Communications System for $8 million, and a $10 million maintenance agreement with the state of Mississippi for their statewide system that currently provides mission-critical communications to over 17,000 public safety users. Within our Managed Services business, the South Australian Government Radio Network extended their managed network service contract, and U.K. Mail continued to adopt our Mobility Lifecycle Management solution to help monitor, manage and improve the availability of devices deployed across their 52 sites and 2,500 vehicles. This comprehensive solution includes our Enterprise mobile computing devices, combined with life cycle management, enabling the customer to utilize the latest in mobile technology while maintaining a focus on their customers and strategic business objectives. In terms of specific milestones, we continue to implement the Norway contract, with over 200 live sites and best-in-class system availability metrics, since we acquired the prime responsibility in Q1 of 2012. So let me share with you a few closing thoughts as I wrap up our prepared comments on this call. First, I'm proud of our team's ability to execute and meet our Q2 expectations despite record comps in Government last year and a challenging industry environment in Enterprise. Second, we remain committed to innovation and leadership in both our Government and Enterprise business, as we know this is the best way to generate returns for our shareholders over the long term. Third, while there are factors impacting our Enterprise business that we don't control, we're going to work hard on managing the things that we can. And we will be rigorous in driving profitability across the entire company and remain committed to our 18% operating margin target. And fourth, our confidence in our business and our commitment to shareholder return remain strong, as evidenced by today's announcement for a 19% dividend increase and a $2 billion increase in the share repurchase authorization.