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RNS Number : 0605N
Spirent Communications PLC
15 January 2019
SPIRENT COMMUNICATIONS PLC
Trading Update 2018
London, UK - 15 January 2019: Spirent Communications plc
("Spirent", the "Company" or the "Group") (LSE: SPT), a leading
communications technology company, today issues the following
Trading Update for the final quarter of the Company's financial
year, from 1 October to 31 December and for the year in full,
noting all financial results are subject to external audit.
Group performance
Good momentum continued into the final quarter of 2018, with the
Group securing a number of important contract wins.
For ongoing businesses(1) , order intake in the financial year
totalled $470 million, up 6 per cent on 2017, and revenue grew by 6
per cent to $477 million.
In particular, we benefited from strong growth from our Networks
& Security operating segment and as predicted, we experienced
an increase in demand for 400G high-speed Ethernet test solutions.
As previously highlighted, growth in our Positioning business has
been particularly strong and includes the benefit from significant
one-off business with a US defence contractor (c$10 million
revenue) which we don't expect to repeat in 2019. Due to
significant reorganisation in our key customer base for Lifecycle
Service Assurance, we saw only modest annual revenue growth for
this business. Connected Devices delivered strong profit growth in
the year, driven by effective cost management.
We continue to manage our costs effectively, ensuring we retain
R&D focus on our optimal growth vectors and invest in our
capabilities to sell our assurance solutions to key customers.
Improvement initiatives implemented during the year meant we were
able to mitigate cost inflation and maintain a broadly flat cost
base.
We now expect to deliver an adjusted operating profit(2) in the
range $75 million to $77 million, demonstrating a year of strong
profitable growth, up circa 30 per cent on the prior year,
exceeding market expectations.
The balance sheet remains strong, with cash closing at just over
$120 million after dividend payments totalling $55 million during
the year.
Commenting on the results, Eric Hutchinson, Chief Executive
Officer, said:
"We are pleased our portfolio is delivering revenue growth. Our
focus is to support our customers to manage their networks in the
face of increasing complexity and their need for cost optimisation.
We expect to exceed the market's profit expectations for the
financial year 2018. We have market leading technology offerings
and are well placed to optimise opportunities as they continue to
arise."
Spirent will announce its full year results for the financial
year ended 31 December 2018 on
7 March 2019.
The Company will host a results presentation at 09.30am UK time
on Thursday, 7 March 2019 at FTI Consulting Limited, 200
Aldersgate, Aldersgate Street, London EC1A 4HD.
A simultaneous webcast of the presentation will be available in
the Investors section of the Spirent Communications plc website
https://corporate.spirent.com/.
- ends -
Notes
1 Comparatives exclude businesses divested in 2017, which
contributed $5.2 million of order intake, $5.9 million of revenue
and $1.4 million of adjusted operating profit to the 2017
results.
2 Adjusted operating profit is before charging exceptional
items, acquired intangible asset amortisation and share-based
payment.
Enquiries
Eric Hutchinson, Chief Executive Spirent Communications
Officer plc +44 (0)1293 767676
Paula Bell, Chief Financial
Officer
James Melville Ross/Dwight
Burden/ +44 (0)20 3727
Adam Davidson FTI Consulting 1000
About Spirent Communications plc
Spirent Communications plc (LSE: SPT) offers test, measurement,
analytics and assurance solutions for next-generation devices and
networks. Spirent provides products, services and information
solutions for high-speed Ethernet, positioning mobile network
infrastructure markets, with expanding focus on service assurance,
cybersecurity and 5G. Spirent is accelerating the transition of
connected devices, network equipment and applications from
development labs to the operational network, as it continues to
innovate toward fully-automated testing and autonomous service
assurance solutions. Further information about Spirent
Communications plc can be found at
https://corporate.spirent.com/.
Spirent Communications plc Ordinary Shares are traded on the
London Stock Exchange (ticker: SPT; LEI: 213800HKCUNWP1916L38). The
Company operates a Level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR)
programme with each ADR representing four Spirent Communications
plc Ordinary Shares. The ADRs trade in the US over-the-counter
(OTC) market under the symbol SPMYY and the CUSIP number is
84856M209. Spirent ADRs are quoted on the Pink OTC Markets
electronic quotation service which can be found at
http://www.otcmarkets.com/marketplaces/otc-pink.
Spirent and the Spirent logo are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Spirent Communications plc. All other trademarks or
registered trademarks mentioned herein are held by their respective
companies. All rights reserved.
Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
This document may contain forward-looking statements which are
made in good faith and are based on current expectations or
beliefs, as well as assumptions about future events. You can
sometimes, but not always, identify these statements by the use of
a date in the future or such words as "will", "anticipate",
"estimate", "expect", "project", "intend", "plan", "should", "may",
"assume" and other similar words. By their nature, forward-looking
statements are inherently predictive and speculative and involve
risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on
circumstances that will occur in the future. You should not place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are not a
guarantee of future performance and are subject to factors that
could cause our actual results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied by these statements. The Company undertakes no
obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in
this document, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
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