Cisco reported revenue for its fiscal second quarter to 23 January up 2 percent year-on-year to USD 11.8 billion. The results excludes its set-top box business sold to Technicolor and were at the high end of Cisco's forecast for flat to 2 percent higher sales in the quarter. The company's net profit jumped 31 percent to USD 3.1 billion, helped by a 7 percent reduction in operating costs and tax benefits. Adjusted EPS increased 8 percent to USD 0.57. Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said the strong Q2 results were down to "managing the business extremely well in a challenging macro environment".
Product revenue rose 2 percent in Q2, and service revenue was up 3 percent. By geographic segment, sales in the Americas and EMEA were each up 1 percent, and APJC sales rose 11 percent. Product revenue growth was led by Security which increased 11 percent, and NGN Routing and Collaboration which increased 5 and 3 percent, respectively. Wireless was flat while Switching and Data Center declined 4 and 3 percent, respectively. Revenues were also helped by the completed acquisitions of Portcullis, ParStream, Lancope and 1 Mainstream in the security, data analytics and video markets during the quarter.
The company also announced a 24 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to USD 0.26 per share and approval for a USD 15 billion increase in the share buyback programme, for a total USD 16.9 billion. Cisco still has USD 60.4 billion in cash available at the end of the quarter. For the third quarter, Cisco forecast 1-4 percent growth in revenues, excluding the set-top box business, and adjusted EPS of USD 0.54-0.56.
