Juniper Networks beat expectations for the second quarter ended 30 June 2004 posting turnover of $307m versus $165m for the same period last year. On the back of this it has announced a $250m share buy-back programme, prompting a 10 per cent jump yesterday in its share price.

Despite this the networking equipment vendor made a loss of $12.6m for the period - partly due to costs associated with the purchase of NetScreen. Juniper paid $3.5bn for NetScreen in February.

Scott Kriens, chairman and CEO of Juniper, said: "The key to Juniper's strong second quarter results was our simultaneous execution. We met our financial objectives, exceeded our goals for integration of the NetScreen acquistion, expanded our partner and channel relationships, all while remaining intensely focused on our customers and their needs..."

The company has increased its estimates for third quarter sales to between $366m and $370m, up from $344m. ®

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