Gregory Q. Brown
Analyst · from Jefferies
Ed, thanks. In our Government business, sales for the quarter were $1.5 billion, an increase of 14% over Q2 2011. We saw strong growth in all regions. Profitability also improved with operating earnings growing to 16.4% of sales this quarter compared to 13.1% in Q2 of last year. We've talked previously about some of the growth drivers for public safety that include interoperability, spectrum efficiency and compelling return on investment. Customers are seeking to overcome spectrum constraints by selecting our latest version of ASTRO 25 with P25 Phase 2, which is nearly twice as efficient as required by the current FCC narrow band mandate in the United States. For example, Apopka, Florida recently celebrated the world's first deployment and acceptance of a dual-mode ASTRO 25 system with Phase 2 P25 TDMA. They doubled their channel capacity for secure, encrypted communications without the need for adding frequency bands, antenna sites or stations. And our APEX radios provide multiband functionality in one device, allowing first responders the freedom to seamlessly connect between multiple frequencies for interoperability between agencies, improved mobility and response time. Another example of a Phase 2 TDMA system that's being deployed is Maryland's First Responder Interoperable Radio System Team, or Maryland FiRST, as it's known, a statewide 700 megahertz radio communication system designed for state and local public safety officials to communicate with each other on a common system. And this quarter, the city of Toronto selected our ASTRO technology with Phase 2 TDMA for a 700 megahertz shared police, fire and EMS system implementation. Other significant ASTRO wins from this quarter include the state of Ohio for $80 million, Lakeland, Florida for $12 million, state of Pennsylvania police for $10 million and Centre County Pennsylvania for $13 million. In Latin America, our ASTRO solution was selected by the Chilean Investigative Police to cover the entire country with both trunking and conventional mode. We also sold a $37 million ASTRO system to Ecuador's National Telecommunications Corporation for the National Police. In May, we participated in TETRA World Congress in Dubai where we introduced the MTP3000 handheld radio, which redefines mission-critical performance with superior audio quality and improved coverage. A TETRA-equipped version of our vision for the ultimate police patrol vehicle demonstrated the latest technologies and integrated controls to enable streamline decision making. In China, we were awarded a $3 million TETRA system with Beijing Metro and a multimillion TETRA contract for the Mass Transit Railway in Hong Kong. The London Underground recently chose Motorola Solutions TETRA equipment for a $6 million system expansion as well. Among our integrated command-and-control applications portfolio, Randall County, Texas contracted with us for a $2 million advance computer-aided dispatch solution that uses GPS to enable dispatchers to locate officers and vehicles, while officers can run license checks from their patrol car without calling dispatch. This solution also incorporates a public safety LTE network and expands the LTE core, which is owned by Harris County, Texas. The evolution of public safety LTE in the U.S. continues as first net and the related D Block governance structure takes form. As we've said before, we do not anticipate material revenues from LTE until the back half of 2013. Meanwhile, the market for Public Safety LTE is global as the tools and capabilities from this vital technology benefit public safety responders and citizens. This quarter, we launched a trial with the Brazilian Army, and in May, nearly 1,000 government officials and customers gathered in Tel Aviv for a showcase to explore the benefits of public safety LTE by Motorola Solutions. In addition, we've seen continued interest and activity from several countries in the Middle East. In our professional and commercial radio tier, double-digit growth continued. We also expanded our industry-leading MOTOTRBO series with the release of the XPR 7000 and XPR 3000 series digital portables designed to meet the communication needs of public service, manufacturing, education, hospitality and service industries. These new radios add to a growing family of devices, giving customers a choice of different form factors and feature sets as seen in the ultra-thin and lightweight SL Series portable and the XPR 5000 Series mobile, which both launched earlier this year. Moving on to our Enterprise business, sales in the Enterprise segment were $689 million, a 2% decrease from Q2 of 2011. Operating earnings were 16% of sales compared to 19.4% last year. In June, we announced a $200 million cash offer to acquire Psion, another pioneer in the rugged mobile computing industry. Psion works directly with its customers and partners to also develop mobile computing hardware, software and services that meet their specific rugged mobile computing needs. The acquisition of Psion will allow us to strengthen our portfolio with ruggedized handheld products and vehicle-mount terminals and deepen our presence in the global markets in which we compete. The acquisition also supports our international growth strategy by providing an attractive global base of customers. Psion brings a talented team with extensive mobile computing design expertise and professionals with key industry experience, and we expect this transaction to close in Q4. We also hosted events in Boston and New York to share our view on the future of retail. Drawing from our deep domain expertise and world-class portfolio, we framed a vision where retailers will rely on advanced solutions to control the path to purchase and turn browsing into buying and shoppers into brand advocates. During the events, we previewed new devices like the SB-1 wearable smartbadge, which includes a personalized task manager, scanner and push-to-talk voice capability, along with the MC40, a sleek, customizable touchscreen solution that runs on Android and offers enterprise class durability, secure payment processing and powerful voice connectivity. Notable wins in the Enterprise for the quarter included a $2 million order from Tesco, which includes our MC17 devices and personal shopping system and a $3 million CVS purchase of wireless LAN infrastructure for their stores. The U.K. Mail Group, the largest independent parcel mail and logistics company in the U.K., selected our global services team for a $2 million contract to manage 2,000 devices with asset tracking, software upgrades and security management. Our industry leadership was recognized by Gartner with a strong positive evaluation in their market scope report for the ruggedized handheld computer market, noting several areas including devices for harsh environments, specific market solutions and vertical solutions and new task-specific devices. We also hosted over 160 developers from across the Americas where we announced new investments for our developer community as part of the PartnerEmpower program. Attendees learned how to architect next-generation solutions using our latest tools, platforms, products and technologies, including the RhoMobile Suite 2.0, our latest tool for applications developers, which has been downloaded over 20,000 times. Turning to a regional view for the total company. North America and Latin America both grew by 10%, driven by robust demand in Government. EMEA grew 5% with double-digit growth in Government. Growth in Asia of 5% was balanced across both Government and Enterprise segments. So in closing, I'd like to thank our 21,000 employees globally for their focus on providing solutions to our customers. Q2 was another very good quarter for Motorola with strong growth, continued operating leverage and additional capital returns to shareholders. While we're pleased with these results, we remain clearly focused on execution, investing in new products and solutions, increasing our top line, earnings growth, free cash flow generation and return of capital.