15 Oct 13. FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR) is realigning multiple production and engineering organizations and streamlining its global operations in order to better position FLIR® to develop, produce and market products more quickly and cost-effectively. The realignment includes closing up to six not-to-scale sites in the United States and Europe and a proposed transfer of those operations to larger FLIR facilities. FLIR also intends to consolidate its optics and laser manufacturing businesses to better realize the benefits of vertical integration in these areas. Management expects savings from these actions to exceed $20 m per year when fully implemented. FLIR expects to record a pre-tax restructuring charge of approximately $27m to $30 m in the fourth quarter of 2013 related to these and additional cost reduction measures.
“The realignment of operations announced today is the culmination of a strategic operations review we began this past summer to further enhance operating efficiency and profitability and to improve our internal execution with better communication, collaboration, and cooperation across the company,” said Andy Teich, President and CEO of FLIR.
Preliminary Third Quarter Results
FLIR also announced preliminary revenue and earnings per share results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2013. Third quarter preliminary results were negatively impacted by weakness in markets that have exposure to the U.S. federal government. Extended procurement and export licensing processes at federal government agencies caused shipments to be lower than anticipated in FLIR’s Surveillance segment and the cores and components line of business within the Thermal Vision and Measurement segment. As a result, FLIR now expects to report revenues of approximately $358m to $360m and earnings per diluted share of approximately $0.32 to $0.33 for the three months ended September 30, 2013. Margins in these businesses were negatively impacted by product mix and factory absorption due to lower-than-anticipated unit volumes. The preliminary information provided above is based on FLIR’s current estimate of results from operations for the third quarter of 2013 and remains subject to change based on the ongoing review of results.
Given the influences on the third quarter described above, and anticipated impacts on the fourth quarter, management now expects 2013 revenue to be in the range of $1.45bn to $1.5bn and net income excluding the restructuring charges discussed above to be in the range of $1.38 to $1.43 per diluted share. These estimates compare with u-emanagement’s prior outlook of revenue of $1.5bin to $1.6bn and net income of $1.56 to $1.66 per diluted share.
“While we are disappointed in the preliminary results for the third quarter, we have also taken steps, above and beyond those related to our strategic review, to reduce costs in response to the current operating environment, and we remain highly confident in our strategy and outlook for the future,” said Teich. “Ongoing uncertainty in the U.S. government is likely to continue to affect our performance in the fourth quarter, and our revised guidance is intended to reflect this environment. We believe our CDMQ® strategy is the best alternative for government customers to acquire high performance intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, targeting, and detection capabilities with low cost, high quality, and outstanding value. We remain very enthusiastic about the opportunities in our commercial business in 2014 and beyond, and are committed to continuing to innovate for our customers and deliver value to our shareholders, as illustrated by our recent new product introductions and today’s strategic business realignment.”
16 Oct 13. Thales Communications announced a company expansion and the change of its company name. Through recent acquisitions and intra-Thales mergers, the company’s increased technology base and product portfolio now include adjacent markets. To better