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RNS Number : 6448J
Spirent Communications PLC
15 April 2020
SPIRENT COMMUNICATIONS PLC
First Quarter 2020 Trading Update
London, UK - 15 April 2020 : Spirent Communications plc
("Spirent", the "Company" or the "Group") (LSE: SPT), a leading
communications technology company, today issues the following
Trading Update for the period 1 January to 31 March 2020.
COVID-19
During the period we have taken a number of actions in light of
COVID-19. We acted quickly to protect our employees and implemented
home working arrangements for our staff in China. We ensured robust
communication links with our customers which led to a healthy level
of orders from the region despite the virus. As the virus moved to
other countries, we were already implementing operational
continuity plans to support sourcing and implementing shift
arrangements and skeleton crews to ensure shipments to our
customers. We have also increased communication avenues to our
customers including enhanced digital media.
Group performance
We delivered strong results in the quarter, with order intake
showing good growth, revenue was up 12 per cent, and we drove
robust profit growth compared to the same period in 2019. We
benefited from our strong opening orderbook and we have continued
to build momentum into the second quarter.
The development of 5G continues at pace and we have secured key
orders to support our customers across the portfolio. We are
working closely with Asian service providers who have committed to
accelerate their 2020 5G deployment targets so their networks have
more capacity and coverage to meet increasing demand. As Spirent
continues to solve bigger business challenges for our customers we
have also been appointed as adviser to the UK government's 5G
security working group to help develop policy and set
standards.
Networks & Security
Strong demand for our Positioning products and high-speed
Ethernet solutions continued through the first quarter and we are
continuing to invest in expanding the breadth of each of these
portfolios to address new opportunities.
Lifecycle Service Assurance
Revenue growth was delivered in the quarter; demand for our
industry leading Landslide 5G core network emulator has been
strong, as customers continue to undertake 5G lab and field trials.
In addition, we are well positioned to support customers as work
from home arrangements have added stress to transport networks.
Connected Devices
We had a reasonable start to the year including wins with 5G
handset OEMs in North America for our Fit-4-Launch service
experience product as they prepare to introduce devices. The launch
of devices by our customers may be impacted by delay as a result of
the virus, however, we continue to build interest in our new 5G
device test product.
Financial position and dividend
After taking into account the strong cashflow in the period,
which resulted in a cash balance of $208 million at 31 March 2020,
the Board confirms payment of the previously announced final
dividend of 3.45 cents (2.70 pence) per share. The payment will be
made on 1 May to shareholders on the register at 13 March, subject
to shareholder approval at the Annual General Meeting on 29
April.
Commenting on today's announcement, Eric Updyke, Chief Executive
Officer, said:
"We have started the year well and our pipeline remains solid.
We recognise that the current volatile environment may affect deal
timing and as a result, we continue to be extremely vigilant and
are taking prudent actions to mitigate risk and delay discretionary
expenses. We are keeping a careful eye on customer demand as we
monitor the continuing effects of the virus.
I am immensely thankful for the dedication of our colleagues
around the world; they have demonstrated agility and determination
in a dynamic and unpredictable environment.
Our business model is proving to be resilient particularly at a
time when infrastructure is critical for global communications. We
benefit from our long-standing customer relationships built over
many decades, and our global engineering and operational footprint
combined with our strong balance sheet provides flexibility as we
manage through uncertainty. We continue our focused approach on
supporting our employees and customers during this difficult
period."
- ends -
Enquiries
Eric Updyke, Chief Executive Spirent Communications
Officer plc +44 (0)1293 767676
Paula Bell, Chief Financial &
Operations Officer
James Melville-Ross/Dwight Burden/Emma +44 (0)20 3727
Hall FTI Consulting Limited 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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