Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2003/08/06/cisco_q4_profits_up/

Cisco Q4 profits up

Flat sales

By John Leyden

Posted in Networks, 6th August 2003 11:14 GMT

Cisco racked up the profits in Q4, even though sales were flat. Net income for the three months to July 26, 2003 was up 27 per cent to $982 million (Q4: 2002 $772 million) on sales of $4.7bn (Q4 2002 $4.8bn).

Net sales for fiscal 2003 were $18.9bn, the same as 2002. However net income for 2003 was a much healthier $3.6 billion (FY 2002: $1.9bn).

John Chambers, Cisco CEO, claimed a "solid quarter in a challenging market... the investments and strategies of the past three years are paying off. This is particularly true in high-end routing and switching, where we saw solid sequential growth. Advanced technologies in total exceeded 20 percent sequential growth, with IP telephony, storage and optical growing the fastest in terms of orders."

Cisco forecasts revenues will rise two to four percent in Q1 2004 to $4.8 to $4.9 billion.

Cisco's operating highlights during Q4 included the acquisition of consumer networking firm Linksys, bought for approximately $480m, and SignalWorks, for $16 million.

During the quarter Cisco shipped its two millionth Internet Protocol (IP) telephone and made a launched a concerted assault to dominate wireless networking with its Structured Wireless-Aware Network programme. The company also revamped its security products portfolio and announced OEM deals in the storage networking market. ®