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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (42546)	5/7/2002 6:58:14 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

"We had a fanatical focus on cash, productivity, profits and market opportunity," said John Chambers, chairman and chief executive. "These were good results in a difficult environment. But what a difference a year makes! We still have some way to go." The group posted net income of $729m, or 10 cents a share, for the quarter, compared with a net loss of $2.7bn, or 37 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenues actually increased, up 2.1 per cent from $4.72bn to $4.8bn. Product sales fell marginally, from $4bn to $3.9bn, but service revenues were up 15 per cent, from $721m to $829m. The results benefited from a huge reduction in cost of product sales, down from $4.1bn to $1.5bn. Larry Carter, chief financial officer, said the fall in costs was partly thanks to falling component costs and reduced provisions for inventory. Last year, the company took a $2.2bn write-off to cover excess inventory. Cisco cut research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative costs. Last year the company also took a $1.17bn restructuring charge. The absence of such a charge, and reductions in costs, helped operating expenses fall from $4.3bn to $2.19bn. This helped operating results recover from a $3.8bn loss last year to an operating profit of $874m. On a pro forma basis, excluding acquisition charges, payroll tax on employee stock option exercises and certain non-recurring items, the group posted earnings of $838m, or 11 cents a share, compared with $230m, or 3 cents a share in the same period last year. That compared with consensus forecasts of 9 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. Mr Chambers said that the company generated $1.6bn of cash during the quarter and the company had $21.1bn of cash and equivalents on the balance sheet. Average revenue per employee had jumped from $442,000 to $530,000. The company's revenues had increased while those of its 10 top US rivals had fallen from $11.2bn to $7bn.