Cisco reported lower revenue and profit figures for its fiscal first quarter to 24 October, pulled down by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and other macro uncertainties. CFO Kelly Kramer said the company did deliver strong growth in operating cash flow, that it continued to transform its business through more software offerings and subscriptions, and that it returned USD 2.3 billion to shareholders. The company is guiding for a better second fiscal quarter, on a sequential basis.
In a separate announcement, Cisco said Kramer will be retiring working at the company for nine years. She will be succeeded by R Scott Herren who will start on 18 December and report to CEO Chuck Robbins. Herren was previously the CFO at Autodesk. Before that, he worked at Citrix Systems, at FedEx and IBM.
Revenues for fiscal Q1 fell 9 percent from the year before to USD 11.9 billion, the same decline as in the previous quarter, with gains of 2 percent at service revenue unable to offset the 13 percent fall at product revenue. All regions posted declines, with revenues down 10 percent in the Americas, off 10 percent at EMEA and 7 percent lower at APJC. Earnings per share sank 25 percent to USD 0.51, with adjusted EPS down 10 percent to USD 0.76. The operating cash flow increased meanwhile by 14 percent to USD 4.1 billion, with cash and cash equivalents going to USD 30 billion, from 29.4 billion at the end of the previous quarter.
Looking towards fiscal Q2, the company sees revenues down 0-2 percent, with EPS at USD 0.55 and adjusted EPS at 0.74-0.76.
