Gregory Q. Brown
Analyst · Jeff Kvaal with Barclays
Ed, thanks. In our Government business, sales for the quarter were $1.3 billion, which is up 11% over Q1 of last year. We saw solid growth in all regions, including significant growth in North America. Our profitability also improved, with operating earnings growing to 14.1% of sales this quarter compared to 11.5% in Q1 last year as the business continues to scale. Some notable wins among our ASTRO P25 radio platform included projects in Pierce County, Washington and Adams County, Pennsylvania valued at $18 million and $19 million, respectively. We also announced a $12 million county-wide system to support all Sumter County, Florida public safety and public service agencies. We announced a $7 million system in Colombia County, Georgia that includes our latest ASTRO P25 Base 2 system yet maintains backward compatibility to the legacy networks. And in Warren County, Ohio, we replaced their 22-year-old system with a new $9 million ASTRO 25 emergency communications network for public safety and public service users across the county. Internationally, the Ecuador police will deploy $10 million of additional ASTRO radios to increase the current installed base with our APEX series. In TETRA, the International TETRA Awards recognized one of our ultra-rugged radios for its design and use in hazardous environments. In addition, our customers were recognized for their adoption of TETRA technology, including Best Use of TETRA in Public Safety for Airwave in the U.K. and Best TETRA Innovation for the Hong Kong Police. During the quarter, we also won additional TETRA awards with Hong Kong Mass Transit and the Mumbai, India Airport. Growth also continued in our professional and commercial radio portfolio with solid double-digit growth on top of an excellent first quarter last year as customers continue to choose our digital solutions like MOTOTRBO. This year's International Wireless Communications Expo in Las Vegas provided an opportunity for us to share our latest government solutions and innovation. We announced the MOTOTRBO SL Series, two-way radio, an industry-leading, incredibly thin and light digital radio with its slim form factor, designed to meet user requirements and solutions for hospitality, services, security and airports. With innovative features such as integrated intelligent audio and intuitive work order ticket management, this device enhances professionalism and discretion while enabling improved customer service and faster response times. We also introduced the LEX 700, the first handheld Public Safety LTE device, which delivers street-ready data over Public Safety LTE. This mission-critical handheld delivers a compact, rugged form factor with intuitive user interface in unprecedented access to multimedia applications over multiple networks, including Public Safety LTE. We've talked about how important this technology is for public safety and first responders in the U.S. We recently were awarded a $4 million contract from Harris County, Texas to expand their Public Safety LTE network with additional sites, to deliver enhanced video and data capabilities along with expanded interoperability with their existing ASTRO 25 radio system. And in February, President Obama signed the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act, which reallocated the D Block for public safety use. In addition, the law provides a funding stream over the next 8 to 10 years at $7 billion for a nationwide network buildout. We believe we're well positioned to compete for this business in Public Safety LTE. The products and solutions developed in our Enterprise segment often appeal to our Government customers as well. For example, the Colombia National Police purchased over 2,000 ES400s for their police force as a supplemental device to connect with local citizens. Moving on to the Enterprise business, sales in the Enterprise segment were $655 million, a 2% decrease from Q1 of last year. Excluding the expected iDEN decline of $31 million, actually Enterprise grew 3%. Remember also, this comes off of an 18% growth rate in the year-ago quarter. Operating earnings were 16.2% of sales compared to 19.8% last year, with the difference in decline primarily driven by iDEN, pension expense and foreign exchange. At the National Retail Federation Convention in January, we showcased a number of examples of our leadership and innovation. Together with our partners, we demonstrated how technology continues to change the retail landscape from the warehouse to the store floor. Our Retail customers continue to invest in solutions to improve their customers shopping experience. Demand for this technology comes from all segments of the retail value chain, including designers, distributors and retail points of presence with online or traditional stores. For example, Macy's recently chose our MC3190 and our wireless LAN infrastructure with air defense to drive real-time inventory accuracy within their operations. In another example of our purpose-built enterprise mobile computing portfolio, United Airlines has initially deployed over 3,000 MC95s for baggage handling, accurately tracking bags as they move throughout their North American network, providing greater visibility and improved customer service. And TNT Express in Germany is deploying new proof-of-delivery applications at our MC95 enterprise mobile computing devices as well. In our advanced data capture business, we unveiled the rugged DS3500 extended range scanners with the flexibility to capture bar code information from extended distances for warehouse management and other harsh industrial environments. Goya Foods recently chose these extended-range scanners because of their ability to scan both 1D and 2D bar codes. And furthermore, Goya expects to improve efficiency with the flexibility of a single device that meets all of their scanning requirements. Our go-to-market remains focused on a combination of our 1,700 direct sales professionals and our 20,000-plus channel partners, who help us meet customer needs and extend our reach. Our PartnerEmpower channel program was recently awarded with a top rating from CRN magazine, again recognizing the support and investment we provide to distributors, resellers and applications developers. Our global services team continues to respond to customer demand for more managed services. This quarter, we finalized the transaction to assume responsibility for Norway's nationwide TETRA public safety system, representing a $750 million contract through 2026, one of our largest public safety agreements. Our services team continues to help public safety and public service agencies adopt innovative technologies like video surveillance as well. For example, the city of Chicago video surveillance program continues to expand in Chicago and with additional agencies, such as Chicago public schools, where the program includes -- now includes 14 high schools to keep students safe. In addition, we recently partnered with the city of Cleveland to integrate their Cleveland shared security surveillance network for public safety. Now turning to a regional view for the total company. For the quarter, North America sales grew 9%, driven by solid growth in both Government and Enterprise. EMEA grew 1% with growth in Government. Asia posted 14% growth, while Latin America decreased 5% as a result of the planned decline in iDEN, which disproportionately affected the region.