Trading Update And Strategic Priorities

RNS Number : 2243X

Spirent Communications PLC

09 January 2014

 



SPIRENT COMMUNICATIONS PLC

TRADING UPDATE AND STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

London, UK - 9 January 2014: Spirent Communications plc ("Spirent", the "Company" or the "Group") (LSE: SPT), a leading communications technology company, provides a trading update and announces its strategic priorities, following Eric Hutchinson's appointment as Chief Executive Officer on 3 September 2013.

Trading during the fourth quarter of 2013 resulted in revenue of approximately $115.0 million, which is at the lower end of guidance given in the October Interim Management Statement of $115 million to $120 million.  There was a further increase in the order book, reflected in a book to bill ratio of 108 for the quarter.  Regionally there was a strengthening in demand in Asia and Europe, but there was unexpectedly slower demand in the United States, as some major equipment manufacturers delayed placing contracts.  Full year revenue is approximately $413.0 million (2012: $472.4 million).

The Board and Eric Hutchinson have assessed Spirent's strengths and market opportunities, together with the challenges the Group faces, to set the future direction of the business.  The conditions within Spirent's markets continue to be, and will likely remain volatile in the medium term.  Therefore in order to compete effectively and deliver appropriate solutions to our customers, whilst at the same time driving innovation and taking new market opportunities, certain changes had to be implemented to allow Spirent to return to growth.

The Board believes that better alignment of its organisation will allow Spirent to maximise the growth areas that offer Spirent the most significant future opportunities.  To this end, a number of senior management and structural changes have been completed to deliver a streamlined, decentralised and more simplified business.  These internal changes have been made to create a more agile and responsive organisation to better serve Spirent's customers as well as sharpen the business's focus on anticipating customers' requirements for the future.

The Board's vision is for Spirent to consolidate its position as leading experts in test and measurement for information technology communications worldwide.  In order to achieve this aim, the Board has identified a number of areas that will be an important focus of Spirent's future investment.  These include the acceleration of the development of virtual test systems, software defined networking solutions, expansion of its Enterprise sales channel, enhancements to Spirent's Cyber Security test offering as well as advancements in Automotive software and related connectivity testing.  These initiatives will require an increase in the investment in both product development and sales and marketing in 2014 in order to drive future growth and expand the business's prospects building on recent investments.  In addition, selective acquisitions will be sought to support this process.

Further detail and clarity on the Board's vision and strategy will be provided at the time of the preliminary results on 27 February 2014. 

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Enquiries

Eric Hutchinson, Chief Executive Officer		Spirent Communications plc		[phone]
James Melville-Ross/Sophie McMillan/ Emma Appleton		FTI Consulting		[phone]

About Spirent Communications plc

Spirent Communications plc is a global leader in test and measurement inspiring innovation within development labs, communication networks and IT organisations.  We enable today's communication ecosystem as well as tomorrow's emerging enterprises to deploy life enriching communications networks, devices, services and applications.  Further information about Spirent Communications plc can be found at http://corporate.spirent.com/.

Spirent Communications plc Ordinary Shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: SPT).  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/otc-pink/home.

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.

 

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