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Motorola Solutions, Inc. (MSI)

Q3 2013 Earnings Call· Wed, Oct 23, 2013

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, and thank you for holding. Welcome to the Motorola Solutions Third Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. The presentation material and additional financial tables are currently posted on the Motorola Solutions' Investor Relations website. In addition, a replay of this call will be available approximately 3 hours after the conclusion of this call over the Internet. The website address is www.motorolasolutions.com/investor. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to introduce Mr. Shep Dunlap, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Dunlap, you may begin your conference

Shep Dunlap

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets

Thank you, and good morning. Welcome to our call to discuss third quarter results. With me this morning are Greg Brown, Chairman and CEO; Gino Bonanotte, Corporate Vice President and Acting CFO; and Mark Moon, Executive Vice President and President, Sales and Product Operations. Greg and Gino will review our results along with commentary, and Mark will join for the Q&A portion of the call. Earlier this morning, we posted an earnings presentation and press release at motorolasolutions.com/investor. These materials include GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations for your reference. It is important to review these materials. A number of forward-looking statements will be made during this presentation. Forward-looking statements are any statements that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations of Motorola Solutions, and we can give no assurance that any future results or events discussed in these statements will be achieved. Any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the statements contained in this presentation. And with that, I would like to now turn the call over to Greg.

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Goldman Sachs

Thanks, Shep. And good morning, and thanks for joining us today. Today, we reported third quarter sales of $2.1 billion, a decrease of 2% from last year. Sales in Government declined 4% while Enterprise sales increased 2%. On a GAAP basis, net earnings from continuing operations were $1.16 per share compared to $0.72 in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP net earnings from continuing operations were $1.32 compared to $0.84 per share in Q3 of last year. For the remainder of this call, we will reference non-GAAP financial results unless otherwise noted. As I share our results for the quarter, I think there are 3 key themes I'd like to emphasize. First, we drove improved operating margins in both businesses as a result of solid gross margins and lower operating expenses, and we remain on track to deliver on our 18% operating margin target for the full year. Second, the Government business remains very solid, coming off last year's record levels, with strength in Europe, strength in U.S. state and local, and that is despite weaker-than-expected U.S. federal sales. This business is very well positioned for growth in Q4, with record backlog. Third, our Enterprise business is showing signs of improvement, despite a muted spending environment in our key markets and verticals. I'll now turn the call over to Gino to provide additional details on our Q3 results, and then I'll return to further discuss the quarter.

Gino A. Bonanotte

Analyst · Raymond James

Thanks, Greg. In Q3, we continued our focus on driving margin improvement and operational discipline. Although we saw an expected top line decline in the quarter, we remain encouraged regarding our position in both businesses. In terms of the quarter, Q3 total company sales declined 2%. Third quarter Government sales were $1.5 billion, a decrease of 4% from the prior year quarter. In the Europe and Africa region, we saw double-digit growth, driven by large project rollouts and our expanded device portfolio in TETRA. In North America, results were mixed. We experienced strong strength in state and local government, offset by weakness in our federal sales. We did not see the typical ramp that corresponds with a federal fiscal year-end. In addition, we saw significantly lower-than-normal U.S. federal orders and RFP activity in September. Turning to margins. We posted operating margins in the Government segment of 20.4%, which were flat with Q3 2012. Improved operating expenses offset the anticipated decline in revenues and corresponding gross margins. Enterprise revenues increased 2% to $647 million. Excluding the impact of Psion and iDEN, Q3 revenues declined 4% compared to high single- and low double-digit declines over the past 4 quarters. As Greg mentioned, we believe this business is stabilizing, and we are encouraged by continued customer engagement and trials for our expansion products. Operating margins in the Enterprise business improved 290 basis points from 12.2% to 15.1%. Higher sales volume, stable gross margins and lower OpEx contributed to the margin increase. For the total company, operating expenses were $659 million, which is down $50 million or 170 basis points from the year-ago quarter. Approximately $20 million of this decrease comes from structural cost improvements while the balance is attributable to lower variable or incentive payments this year. While I'm pleased with our efforts…

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Goldman Sachs

Thanks, Gino. In Government, public safety continues to be a priority for our customers, and with over 60% of the public safety networks deployed still using analog technology, the opportunity for steady growth continues as customers migrate to digital. Our mission-critical customers expect technology that is intuitive, easy to deploy, interoperable and future-proof. Over 20 years ago, we released the ASTRO 25, the world's first narrowband digital public safety radio network. And today, we continue to innovate around the open P25 standard, and this quarter, we will release our latest version of ASTRO 25 digital infrastructure. In fact, in Q4 we have over 100 million in shippable backlog associated with this major release that offers a seamless migration path and improved serviceability and scalability, including future LTE upgrades. Our Astro business declined single digits compared with last year's double-digit growth, while subscriber revenues remained flat with last year's record levels. We won 2 very large Astro awards in Q3, LA-RICS in California for $280 million and Queensland, Australia for over $200 million. Both of these contracts span 15 years. These key wins were the result of years of planning and execution, and they represent the trust and partnership customers have in us for their mission-critical needs. We also received another large award for $52 million for Phase 3 of the State of Maryland's mission-critical radio system, and the city of Indianapolis signed a 10-year $29 million service agreement for their ASTRO system. Fulton County, Georgia with a $20 million award is investing in our latest P25 offering to replace their existing Motorola trunked radio system, which has been in service since 1992. And Franklin County in Ohio placed an $8 million order to join the Ohio statewide Motorola ASTRO system for their first responders. Other notable awards at a local…

Shep Dunlap

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets

Thanks, Greg. [Operator Instructions] Operator, could you please remind our callers on the line how to ask a question.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Simona Jankowski with Goldman Sachs.

Simona Jankowski - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division

Analyst · Goldman Sachs

I wanted to ask you first on the recent headcount reductions that were in the press. Was that part of the $50 million cost-reduction plan that you announced last quarter? Or was that incremental? And along those lines, are you still targeting a 19% operating margin for next year?

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Goldman Sachs

Simona, yes, those actions were part of the $50 million that we described in expected annualized savings for next year. And at this point, yes, we are also targeting a 19% operating margin for next year as well.

Operator

Operator

We'll go next to Pierre Ferragu with Sanford C. Bernstein. Pierre Ferragu - Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., LLC., Research Division: If I look at your Enterprise business, what I understand from your comments is that you're clearly turning the corner in mobile computing. And beyond, like, the structural decline in iDEN, your only area where performance is still a bit disappointing is wireless LAN, and that's also a segment where you're clearly not #1. You have like a very small market share, it's also a segment where the market has gotten much more competitive lately. So I have 2 questions. The first one is I would assume that this is a market that will, at some point, need some consolidation, and so how do you think about that? And my second question would be, if we look at WLAN at the moment, what's happening there? You mentioned, 6 months ago, a change in business, where you were moving towards services. So how do you see the future of this business unit if you keep it as a part of Motorola Solutions? And how do you think about considering alternative strategic directions than keeping it internally going forward?

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Sanford C

Well, Pierre, thanks for the questions. First of all, we're pleased generally with the performance in the Enterprise business in Q3. I love the fact that the Enterprise business, for the first time in 4 or 5 quarters, returned to growth of 2%. As I mentioned, the Enterprise mobile computing business is up single digits, and with Psion, it's up double digits. Our market share position remains very strong, and we're #1 in those key categories. And we're pleased with the business and as well as the pipeline and the engagement around the discussions for mobile computing. We also are -- I think Girish and his product team have done a really nice job on the new products that just are rolling out this month on Android Jelly Bean. As it relates to WLAN, it was down in the face of market growth. As I've mentioned, I do think we had some reasonable Managed Services deals in the quarter, and I like the pipeline and the funnel at this point in time in terms of where we are with customers. When you look at the verticals that we're particularly strong in, like retail and transportation and logistics, the WLAN business is a leader. You're right, we're still transitioning from product to more of a Managed Services-like offering. And there's more work to do, and we're not where we need to be. So we know what we need to do, and we are absolutely focused to not only growing this business but positioning it for sustainable growth in the long term.

Operator

Operator

We'll go next to Tavis McCourt with Raymond James. Tavis C. McCourt - Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division: Greg, in Q4 guidance, you specifically said Government should be up year-over-year. How should we think about Enterprise? Should that make it back to something flattish or will it still be a decline in your view?

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Raymond James

For the quarter, we expect Government to return to growth. And on the Enterprise side, I think it is slightly down for the quarter. That's the composition that we're looking at. Tavis C. McCourt - Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division: And then, Gino, can you give us an update on kind of the free cash flow we should expect for this year? And then maybe the puts and takes as we think about next year's free cash flow, some of the headwinds this year that might go away, that would be helpful. And then, Greg, kind of an update commentary on kind of the Microsoft OS strategy in the Enterprise. Obviously, you guys seem to be bringing out a lot of new Android products. Where do you think your other OS partner is in terms of updating the OS for something a little more touch-centric and these rugged applications?

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Raymond James

Well, let me take the second one first, Tavis. On Microsoft and our overall software strategy, I'm pleased with Girish and the product team because they're doing a fantastic job on Android, and we're rolling out a number of new products on Android Jelly Bean 4.2. In addition to that, we've also announced Mx or Motorola Extension, which is enterprise-grade services around device management, enterprise application control, power management, multiuser log-ins. So I think we're really well positioned on Android. Of course, we have the RhoMobile solution, which is an HTML5 solution that's agnostic of the operating system. And in terms of Microsoft, our expectation is that they would deliver an updated release of the operating system sometime to us midyear, by which we would then follow on with product availability after that point in time.

Gino A. Bonanotte

Analyst · Raymond James

And Tavis, on cash flow, we expect operating cash flow of $800 million for the year. Just a couple -- some commentary on cash flow. Certainly, from my first day, there's been a focus, primary focus on cash. We talked about, in the last call, $150 million of risk to the cash flow number. Clearly, going through the components, working capital components, as well as balance sheet components, that risk has materialized. And also reflected in the $800 million is the expectation of approximately flat revenue, weakness around federal, uncertainty around federal driving the approximately flat revenue number, as well as some timing on some large projects. So our expectation is $800 million of operating cash flow for the year.

Operator

Operator

And we'll go next to Jim Suva with Citigroup.

Jim Suva - Citigroup Inc, Research Division

Analyst · Citigroup

I have 2 questions. First of all, strategically, if you look at your position globally, I believe it was earlier in the year that you had some international challenges, specifically in Asia. Can you update us in that? And also let us know if the political changes in China has had any impact on your business at all or if it just really didn't? And then the second question is, can you help us understand the importance of keeping the wireless LAN business? And the reason why -- and I don't expect you to dispel every rumor out there or trade blog about your company, but there was some -- several sources picking up that you guys would be potentially considering selling it. And sometimes, if that information is accurate out there, it can actually be detrimental to the business as competitors use that as a doorknocking opportunity.

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Citigroup

Let me take China and WLAN, and then I'll turn it over to Mark for Asia. In China, Jim, we're pleased with our performance to date. Our overall revenue is up. Government is up, as well as Enterprise is up. And I think the Enterprise business, in particular, has done a very good job growing strongly in the face of increased competition, and yet we're holding our margins. And I think it's a testimonial to the quality of the product portfolio. TETRA, in particular, has done very well, in particular on rail applications, given the best-in-class mission-critical characteristics of TETRA. So China has actually been a bright spot. Now obviously, it will get more competitive going forward. There's efforts to localize certain standards by which we would expect to work very closely with the Chinese government and participate in the rollout and deployment of those standards. So I think China has been, overall, a bright spot for us so far this year. On WLAN, you're right, there's been speculation, and rhetoric, I'm not going to get into that. You know that we -- it's been an area of focus for us for some time. By the way, I think -- I still think in a stare-and-compare, we have one of the best product portfolios in the industry, supplemented by very good intellectual property. And the WLAN business, as I mentioned, is really strong in retail and transportation, logistics and priority verticals that we're pretty strong in. In terms of Asia, I'll turn it over to Mark.

Mark F. Moon

Analyst · Citigroup

So Jim, as you mentioned, we've been talking about our performance in Asia all year. We talked about we were disappointed coming into the year. We made a number of structural changes. We came in with very low backlog, particularly on the Government side, and we talked about a decline in Q1 of 20%, Q2 of 10%. Actually, we had hoped to get back roughly flat in this quarter. We did not accomplish that. We still declined single digits. So improvement over the previous 2 quarters, but still some decline. The point that's important for me, I also talked about, though, while we were improving this business that we would continue to show signs of increased backlog. And in fact, in this quarter, our backlog position in Asia has improved over $200 million. Driven, of course, by Queensland, but also growth beyond the Queensland, Australia award, which I think is very positive. I do think, in Q4, we will get back to growth. And certainly, Asia Pacific and the Middle East is a growth region for us. So we're putting all the things in place to continue to grow backlog, to continue to get the right coverage and the right places for the growth areas, and we're expecting good solid growth as we go into next year. Again, as Greg mentioned, China has been a bright spot across the board. Enterprise throughout Asia has been bright all the way through, continues to show good strong growth. And so we do see momentum building. And in fact, as Greg mentioned, pleased with China because, to date, we've got very good double-digit growth in Enterprise, single-digit growth in Government and really, we'll be high-single-digits to low-double-digit growth for the full year in China.

Operator

Operator

We'll go next to Kulbinder Garcha with Crédit Suisse. Kulbinder Garcha - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division: A question for Greg, just one on, basically, visibility and growth. It looks like, this year, you're not going to grow both your core businesses organically. I know there's lots of reasons, there difficult comps in Government, you've had some issues in Enterprise, up until now, it looks like. But could you just speak about the visibility into next year that you have? Is this a business that can go back to its long-term growth rate in 2014? What are the puts and takes around it? Especially considering, it looks like the public safety LTE revenue opportunity, if anything, is probably a 2015 issue completely now, or would you agree with that or disagree? Anything you're thinking about visibility and the business being able to go to even a mid-single-digit growth rate at some point?

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Goldman Sachs

So Kulbinder, kind of when you look at our business in composite, obviously, we're guiding to approximately flat for the full year. If you look at the Enterprise business, as I mentioned, I'm pleased with the fact that it's grown for the first time in several quarters. Psion has been a good acquisition that helps on that front and extend the product portfolio on the Enterprise mobile computing side. Backlog is up. And I'm not going to get into the composition of growth expectations for 2014. That's something that we'll dimensionalize in January. But it is certainly fair to say that we expect the firm, in total, to grow in 2014. I'm really pleased with where we are in Government, coming off of a record level last year, backlog position, margin position, product portfolio position. We do expect the Government business to return to growth in Q4. And to your point on LTE, while it's been elongated in the U.S., we're really well positioned given the infrastructure, device and software that we expect to deploy for interoperable public safety broadband, working very closely with FirstNet. And also internationally, we've mentioned the fact that LTE is not just a domestic opportunity. I think the Middle East, in particular, will be the most likely countries that deploy or begin to deploy in '14. We will have an expectation for some revenue contribution in LTE in 2014. Too early to tell you what that will be. We'll update that in January. But I -- as rugged a year as it's been, I think we're really well positioned in -- because we've made investments in the product portfolio. The business, in total, will return to growth. We've taken the tough decisions to size it appropriately and demonstrate that irrespective of top line growth, we can perform on the operating margin and operating leverage lever. And I think it -- I'm looking forward to a better year in 2014.

Operator

Operator

And we'll go next to Andrew Spinola with Wells Fargo.

Andrew Spinola - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Wells Fargo

On that same topic, for 2014, when I think about your 19% operating margin guidance for the year, how do you think about the opportunity on cost cuts still in front of you given that you've -- the actions that you've already taken?

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Wells Fargo

Well, I think that we've done a lot of cost reductions to date, and activities have been launched throughout the year to reflect the more muted demand environment. I always believe that we should always look to size the organization appropriately. So I don't think of cost cutting as an event, I think it's in the ongoing DNA to operate more effectively and efficiently and drive increased productivity in the firm, and I think we've demonstrated that. That said, I believe that the easiest path forward and the most likely path to the approximately 19% will be in the top line growth, since a lot of the chopping of wood on the expense side is more in the rearview mirror. That's my view.

Andrew Spinola - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Wells Fargo

Got it. And then just one follow-up. I think, Greg, in your prepared remarks you made the comment that the Enterprise business was down 4%, including iDEN and Psion. And in the press release, it said that Enterprise was down 5% excluding Psion. So I guess that implies that the iDEN business was actually up year-over-year in Q3. And I was just wondering, were there any sort of maybe onetime payments related to the shutoff of the Sprint network. And then I think you've made comments recently that it will be $75 million next year. So wondering when we should see that step down.

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Wells Fargo

So just a couple of things, and you mentioned it. iDEN will be about $185 million this year. We do expect it to be approximately $75 million in 2014. Enterprise grew 2% all-in for Q3. But without-without, without iDEN and without Psion, it's down 4%, negative 4%. That's still, on an apples-to-apples basis, without-without, an improved trajectory over the previous several quarters on the Enterprise side.

Operator

Operator

And we'll go next to Brian Modoff with Deutsche Bank.

Brian T. Modoff - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

So can we talk a little about -- a couple of things. FirstNet, we were at the FirstNet event in Washington a couple of weeks ago. And it was certainly notable, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens in terms of their vocalness in wanting to participate in that effort. Can you talk a little bit about your view on FirstNet in terms of timing? How do you see the competitive environment? Do you see it more nationally awarded versus local, which is, I think, your preference?

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

So first of all, we continue to work really closely with FirstNet. In particular, in the last several months, I think we've had very good traction and engagement. Mark Hacker, who runs our global government affairs organization, who happens also to be the General Counsel, has been the lead executive over the last several months as the point of contact with FirstNet, and I think he's done a hell of a good job. I've stayed very closely in touch with Sam Ginn as well. And more tactically, in the short term, we're working closely with FirstNet to see if there's a path forward on BayRICS, which was an early BTOP award winner and where some of the network has been built out, as well as Mississippi, which is also an early BTOP recipient and where over 2/3 of the network has been complete. So we're looking for ways -- Motorola Solutions and FirstNet, working very closely together to see if we can complete and get positioned, terms and conditions and a set of -- basically, conditions that complete BayRICS and the State of Mississippi. We remain engaged outside the U.S., particularly in the Middle East, on a couple of fronts. I think from a competitive standpoint, Brian, we're as good as positioned as we've ever been. I think it's actually stronger than it was a year ago, given the investments we've made in infrastructure, software and, in my prepared remarks, examples of refreshing the LEX 700 and the VML vehicular modem on Verizon. Ericsson has been a fantastic partner, where we have about 7 or 8 years left in that agreement. We're taking their base station, so not investing in it in the wireless RAN component. We're hardening it and integrating it interoperably in an end-to-end solution for a private-public partnership around LTE. And Verizon has been a very good partner on the commercial side from a carrier standpoint in the U.S. So I think NSN and Alcatel-Lucent will do their thing, and I respect both firms, but I feel very good about where we are.

Brian T. Modoff - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

And then, briefly, if you look into Q4 on the Enterprise side, how do you see the business x Psion and x iDEN in terms of sequential growth?

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

I think we see it slightly down in Q4 where, commensurately, we see Government returning to growth in about the mid-single-digit range for Q4.

Operator

Operator

And we'll go next to Keith Housum with Northcoast Research.

Keith M. Housum - Northcoast Research

Analyst · Northcoast Research

A question for you on the Enterprise segment. I noticed as I looked at the press release that there was no significant wins in the U.S. Do I attribute that to the overall market conditions in the U.S.? Or is there still a hesitancy, with some of your large customers waiting on the operating system issue from Windows? And will the U.S. see more of a headwind with that than perhaps other geographies?

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Northcoast Research

Yes. I think the Enterprise results reflect what we've talked about with a combination of customers deferring large purchases or chunking up bigger orders into smaller orders. So I think the results are consistent with the environment that we described. And I don't know if you want to add anything, Mark.

Mark F. Moon

Analyst · Northcoast Research

Yes. I think, Keith, we've been talking about the delayed large projects. Run rate has been fairly consistent, and that's still proving to be the case. I would also say we talked about some notable wins even in the WLAN business, and some of the major retailers in the U.S. also did not like to be mentioned in releases as well. So there's good activity, good pilot activity that's going on, but, no doubt, particularly in the U.S., more than any other region, large deployments are continuing to be pushed later into this year and on into next year.

Keith M. Housum - Northcoast Research

Analyst · Northcoast Research

Okay, great. Appreciate it. And changing gears, I think, slightly over to the federal side. You guys noted weakness in the federal side in the quarter. Would you think it was related in part to the upcoming budget issues that happened in October? Or was there something else weighing there and perhaps some of that potential revenue pushed off, the RFPs and such?

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Northcoast Research

I think -- and Mark can jump in as well. I think it was related to the budget standoff and the 16-day government shutdown. There was definitely a change in the month of September. We didn't -- we saw significantly lower normal orders and RFP activity in September, and we did not see the typical ramp that corresponds with the federal fiscal year-end close, which was, basically, the end of Q3. So we saw basically $100 million reduction in our second half of the year forecast that's reflected in our approximately flat full year guidance, definitely a change. And the federal business is down pretty sharply from this year compared to last year.

Keith M. Housum - Northcoast Research

Analyst · Northcoast Research

So did that businesses just not materialize? I mean, or is it deferred, you think?

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · Northcoast Research

My view is it largely will not materialize, so we'll adjust accordingly. I don't think it's deferred and something that we can close in Q4, Q1. I basically think it's largely gone.

Operator

Operator

And we'll go next to Peter Misek with Jefferies.

Peter Misek - Jefferies LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Jefferies

Just a clarification question, firstly, on working capital. Obviously, on your slide, you gave a range. But if we look at the amount that AP increased and the amount that inventory and AR increased, can you help us understand how we should think of working capital management sort of on a longer-term basis? If I look at your intensity on a bunch of metrics basis, it seems elevated, so I'd love a clarification there. And then, can you give us an update on your net cash position as it relates to guidance you gave us, that you wanted to go to a net debt position in terms of capital redeployment?

Gino A. Bonanotte

Analyst · Jefferies

All right. Thanks, Peter. Thanks for the question. This is Gino. With respect to working capital, as I mentioned, we've been digging into all the components of working capital. Have instituted many actions, many of which have not borne fruit yet in Q3. But if I were to break them up individually, inventory remains on track. We're pleased with our performance around inventory at around 9 turns. DPO, we clearly saw degradation in Q2. We have implemented several action plans around DPO based on timing of payments and terms for customers that have -- or I'm sorry, vendors that have multiple terms, and we believe that by the end of Q4, inventory and DPO will be similar to year ending 2012. AR, there are a couple of things that are happening in AR. The Q3 AR has been impacted -- it kind of gets back to the discussion we had on POC. There are several billings that occurred in Q3 for payment in Q4 on some large milestone projects in POC that drove a couple of days in the DSO calculation for Q3. But we expect -- in our $800 million, we expect DSO -- and have action plans in place to get the DSO to be approximately flat year-over-year. So working capital -- from a CCC perspective, working capital approximately flat to last year. With respect to net debt position, we continue to be on track to get to a net debt position in 2014.

Peter Misek - Jefferies LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Jefferies

Any change in terms of the absolute level of net debt that you guys are forecasting or targeting?

Gino A. Bonanotte

Analyst · Jefferies

No.

Operator

Operator

And our last question comes from Tim Long with BMO Capital Markets.

Timothy Long - BMO Capital Markets U.S.

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets

Two of them here. Just to follow that up on the net cash. Could you talk a little bit about the capital return? Any change or slowdown required in that -- in the buyback heading into next year as you get into the net debt position? And then, secondly, Greg, back to the Government. You did, I think, highlight that Europe was pretty strong in the quarter. Maybe give us a little sense as to why you think that was and how sustainable you think that could be as we look into next year.

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets

Tim, thanks. On capital allocation, no change of strategy or view. I think that we clearly believe it's front and center and critical as a key component to drive shareholder return. You've seen the levels of buyback for Q1, Q2, Q3. So far, I think, at this point, they are reasonable reference points for how we think about share repurchase. In terms of Europe, Mark, I don't know your view.

Mark F. Moon

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets

Yes. Europe and actually, Europe and Africa, which is the region but -- has been very strong for us all year. In fact, year-to-date, we're actually double-digit growth in Government, and we're expecting double-digit growth in Q4 in Government as well. So the Government business continues to remain very, very strong. And as the Enterprise business, as we talked about, has returned as well, so we're not seeing the dips like we saw in North America. I think it would be probably unrealistic to think that, that double-digit Government growth would continue on, but with that -- into next year, but we'll give you that further guidance. The important thing to note is that large projects are happening, even in Europe itself, Norway, German MOI, big countries were getting very good growth. And in northern Africa, we've made really, really good traction with a couple of large projects, and we're continuing to invest throughout Africa for future growth. So the European team, I'm very pleased with how they performed, where we're positioned, our backlog position. Even as you talk about strong growth for Q4, we actually have secured the 4 or 5 big projects. They're in backlog to achieve that growth. So making really good headway, not only on recognizing revenue, but continuing to hold backlog relatively stable as we're going through this strong growth period. So I think we continue to see good signs for Europe.

Gregory Q. Brown

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets

Thanks, Tim. So I would just say -- in closing, I want to thank, in particular, all of the associates worldwide of Motorola Solutions. It's been a challenging year in a tough environment, but I think the team has worked closely together and people around the globe have performed well. I think that moving forward, we are very clear and committed to returning the firm to growth. We're committed to improving operating leverage going forward, and we will continue to take steps to drive superior shareholder return. So decent Q3, we're looking for a better 2014. I appreciate everybody dialing in, and we'll talk soon.

Shep Dunlap

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets

Thanks, Greg. I want to remind everyone the details outlining highlighted items. Our GAAP to non-GAAP P&L reconciliations and other financial information can be found on our motorolasolutions.com Investor Relations site. Audio replay, together with a copy of today's slides, will also be available on the site shortly after the conclusion of this call. As mentioned at the outset, during this call we made a number of forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable federal securities laws. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, comments and answers related to the following: future sales growth, including by business, region and product; operating expense and operating margins; EPS outlook; the amount of other income expense; future tax rates and tax benefits as a result of our new holding company structure; operating cash flow; share repurchases and dividends; the impacts of migration of customers from analog to digital; timing impact of new products and solution introductions, including OS transitions; recovery of our Enterprise business; management of our cost structure, working capital and resulting savings; demand trends for our businesses and products; activity within FirstNet; and our net debt position. Because forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, Motorola Solutions' actual results could differ materially from those stated in these forward-looking statements. Information about the factors that could cause and, in some cases, have caused such differences can be found in this morning's press release on pages 8 through 12 and Item 1-A of our 2012 Annual Report, on Form 10-K and in Motorola Solutions' other SEC filings. Thanks, and we look forward to speaking with all of you again soon.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. A replay of this call will be available over the Internet in approximately 3 hours. The website address is www.motorolasolutions.com/investor. We thank you for your participation, and ask that you please disconnect your lines at this time. Have a wonderful day.