Revenues at Harris Corp. were up over all but down in the Broadcast Communications division for the Melbourne, Fla., company's fiscal third quarter.
Broadcast posted $139 million in fiscal Q3 '07, down from $143 million in the same quarter a year ago. The transmission and automation software segment had an operating loss of $18.1 million, including charges of $23.1 million related to cost reductions associated with folding an automation software development project.
Income in the division was also affected by a "significant" decline in U.S. DTV transmission and automation systems revenue, Harris said in the release announcing its results. Q3 broadcast income also suffered from costs incurred in new product launches for the OSi Traffic and Invenio digital asset management systems. Harris said it expected cost reduction efforts to save the division about $12 million in fiscal 2008.
Orders within Broadcast exceeded sales, coming in at $167 million, a 12 percent increase over the previous year. Orders in the video infrastructure product line--routers, digital amplifiers, test and measurement gear, etc.--increased 17 percent.
Overall revenues at Harris for the quarter were up 22 percent to $1.072 billion, compared to $881 million last year. GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net income increased to $214.9 million, or $1.52 per diluted share. Net income excluding a gain and charges associated with the Harris Stratex Networks transaction, and charges associated with actions in the Broadcast segment, increased 24 percent to $100.5 million, or $.72 per diluted share.
The uptick was contributed in part to performance in the government and RF segments, according to Harris chairman, president and CEO, Howard Lance. Concomitantly, Harris announced it secured a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense potentially worth $422 million.
The board of directors also approved a new $600 million share repurchase program. The company expects to purchase $200 million of its shares during the current quarter, with the remaining $400 million spread over the following 24 months. The $600 million repurchase replaces a previous authorization, which had about 2.5 million shares remaining.
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