12 Jan 15. Consolidation of FLIR’s Government Systems Segment continues. The appointment of Any Teich as CEO of FLIR Systems in 2012 saw him put his stamp on the business steering away from the Government Systems Division headed by Bill Sundermeier to a more civil focused business. Bill Sundermeier and a large portion of his team left in 2013 with the Government Systems name being dropped and a smaller web and PR profile following. Now FLIR is announcing the consolidation of a number of US operations and subsidiaries effective January 1 2015. The US operations of FLIR Systems, Boston, FLIR Systems, Portland, FLIR Govt. Systems Pittsburgh and FLIR Govt. Systems – Bozeman (formerly known as Scientific Materials) will be consolidated into FLIR Surveillance Inc. Certainly the end of Supplementals and the Afghan War has seen a drop for the advanced C4I systems FLIR produces and some rationalisation was required, but is the consolidation announced here and the lack of PR coming from any of the defense businesses signal an eventual exit from the defense sector for FLIR which may cause an upward re-rating of the Stock given the current lack of support for defense stocks. However, given world events recently, a rebound may be on the way and FLIR doesn’t want to be left with too little capability to respond to any requirements from its world-wide customers.
15 Jan 15. Chipmaker Intel Corp (INTC.O) forecast current-quarter revenue and gross margins that disappointed investors, sending its shares down more than 2 percent in extended trading. Revenue from its mainstay PC business fell about 3 percent to $8.9bn in the fourth quarter from the third, raising doubts about the expected recovery of the personal computer business. Global personal computer shipments fell 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to research firm IDC, capping three years of declines. That was not as bad as expected, raising hopes among some investors that the PC market is starting to stabilize. That optimism has helped drive Intel’s stock up 16 percent in the past three months, compared with a 7 percent gain for the S&P 500, to levels not seen since 2001. In the light of that, Wall Street was hoping for more encouraging figures. “The top line looked a little bit light of the Street and gross margin looked a little bit light,” Christopher Rolland, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets, said. “PC was weaker in the fourth quarter than we were expecting,” Rolland added. The chipmaker forecast first-quarter revenue of $13.76 billion, plus or minus $500m, and gross margins of about 60 percent, far below the 65.4 percent it reported in the fourth quarter. (Source: Reuters)
15 Jan 15. Bombardier profit warning sparks 25% share price fall. Bombardier shares dropped more than 25 per cent on Thursday after a profit warning sparked concerns about whether the world’s third-largest commercial jet maker would be able to fund its investment programmes. The Montreal-based company — which is also the world’s biggest maker of passenger trains — warned that profit margins in its aerospace and train-making businesses for 2014 would be lower than previously expected. It also said it was “pausing” development of its Learjet 85 business aircraft because of weak demand. Analysts on a conference call focused on how projections of lower-than-expected cash flow for 2014 would affect Bombardier’s ability to fund its development programmes. Bombardier’s B shares — the most widely traded — were down 26.3 per cent at C$3.05 at lunchtime in Toronto. The company, which reports all of its figures in US dollars, is part way through an ambitious effort costing more than $4bn to enter the short-haul commercial jet market with its C Series aircraft. It is also working on new, long-range Global 7000 and Global 8000 business jets. Bombardier was carrying net debt at September 30 of $5.73bn, according to its third-quarter results. Pierre Beaudoin, chief executive, said repeatedly on the con