Cisco Posts ‘Record’ Q4 Results Under New CEO Chuck Robbins

Cisco has posted positive figures for its fourth quarter, the first set of results under new CEO Chuck Robbins, with both product and service revenue increasing by four percent.

The networking giant generated $12.8 billion (£8.2bn) in revenue during the quarter, fuelled partly by 4 percent growth in both collaboration and data centre equipment as well as a two percent jump in switching and three percent rise in next generation network routing products.

Profits for the quarter, which ended on 25 July, increased from $2.2 billion (£1.4bn) in 2014 to $2.3 billion (£1.47bn).

Cisco results

Cisco has been busy in recent months, selling its connected devices unit to Technicolor for £388 million, snapping up security firm OpenDNS for £400 million and scrapping its unprofitable flash storage array line just two years after it was launched following the £268 million acquisition of Whiptail.

It is hoped the moves will allow it to branch out from networking to other enterprise IT services, such as converged infrastructure, analytics and security.

“I’m stepping into the CEO role at an incredibly exciting time for Cisco,” said Robbins, who replaced the long serving John Chambers earlier this year. “I’m particularly pleased with the strong growth of deferred revenue which shows we are very effectively driving our business to a more predictable software-based business model, at the same time as growing revenues and earnings.

“These strong results show what we are capable of when we’re focused, and you can expect us to continue to drive the evolution of our portfolio to maximize the value we bring to customers in today’s rapidly changing market. The network’s strategic role at the centre of everything becoming digital – today and in the future — is why I strongly believe Cisco’s best years are ahead of us.”

For the full financial year, Cisco revenues rose by four percent to $49.2 billion (£31.5bn) – a figure comprised of $37.8 billion (£24.2bn) worth of product sales and $11.4 billion (£7.3bn) worth of service revenue – and profits increased from $7.9 billion (£5bn) to $9 billion (£5.76bn).

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