I feel like this is an ongoing piece I write every four months. Just when everything is going nice and smooth for Xerox, WHAMMO, earnings come out. Document Technology business was down 10%.
The poor numbers for the Document Technology business is not surprising and I expect this trend to continue for years. We all know how this business works. Sell the box and you’ll grab 3-5 years of aftermarket service and supplies. If your box sales are down, you’re going to feel it for many years to come.
Now the scary part; there hardware placements figures (copiers/printers, etc.) were once again terrible. Here’s how much the following was down YoY:
- A4 Mono MFPs down 22%
- A4 Color MFPs down 30%
- A3 Mono MFPs down 1%
- A3 Color MFPs down 1%
- Production Mono down 5%
A couple of bright spots:
- Color printers up 1%
- Production color up 8%
There’s a lot going on at Xerox to address these issues including a noticeable effort to sign and work with new dealers. But just signing a dealer doesn’t equate to big numbers. They already have a primary brand in order to grow you need to displace someone else. This is the key. What can Xerox do to make dealers switch loyalty from Brand A to Brand X?
Here’s the press release from Xerox:
First-Quarter 2015 Summary:
- GAAP EPS from continuing operations of 16 cents
- Adjusted EPS of 21 cents
- Revenue of $4.5 billion, 56 percent from Services
- Operating margin of 7.6 percent, down 1.1 percentage points year-over-year
- Cash flow from operations of $113 million
- Share repurchase of $216 million
Xerox Corporation 45 Glover Avenue P.O. Box 4505 Norwalk, CT 06856-4505
tel +1-203-968-3000
NORWALK, Conn., April 24, 2015 – Xerox (NYSE: XRX) announced today first-quarter 2015 adjusted earnings per share of 21 cents. Adjusted EPS excludes 5 cents related to the amortization of intangibles, resulting in GAAP EPS from continuing operations of 16 cents.
In the first quarter, total revenue of $4.5 billion was down 6 percent or 2 percent in constant currency. Revenue from the company’s Services business, which represented 56 percent of total revenue, was $2.5 billion, down 3 percent or up 1 percent in constant currency. Services margin was 7.5 percent, down 1.1 percentage points, primarily due to higher costs in our legacy Health Enterprise platform implementations.
Click here to view the presentation slides
Revenue from the company’s Document Technology business was $1.8 billion, down 10 percent or 6 percent in constant currency. Document Technology margin was 11.1 percent, down 1.1 percentage points due to increased pension expense, as expected.
“Our earnings are in-line with the guidance we provided,” said Ursula Burns, Xerox chairman and chief executive officer. “Results in Document Technology, which included the increased impact from foreign currency, largely met our expectations. Several of our Services businesses performed well, but overall Services segment results fell short of our expectations driven by higher implementation costs in certain Health Enterprise platform accounts.”
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First-quarter operating margin of 7.6 percent was down 1.1 percentage points from the same quarter a year ago. Gross margin was 31.2 percent, and selling, administrative and general expenses were 20.5 percent of revenue.
Xerox generated $113 million in cash flow from operations during the first quarter, ending the quarter with a cash balance of $872 million. The company repurchased $216 million in stock in the quarter.
2015 Guidance We expect increased currency headwinds, softer signings and acquisition timing to impact revenue; and Services margin to be impacted by increased implementation costs in legacy Health Enterprise accounts. As a result, we are adjusting our full year expectations.
Xerox continues to expect full-year 2015 cash flow from operations of $1.7 to $1.9 billion and free cash flow from operations of $1.3 to $1.5 billion.
The company continues to expect to use its strong free cash flow and anticipated proceeds from the pending ITO divestiture to repurchase up to $1 billion in shares this year, return approximately $300 million to shareholders in dividends, and to spend up to $900 million on acquisitions.
For second-quarter 2015, Xerox expects GAAP earnings of 17 to 19 cents per share and adjusted EPS of 21 to 23 cents per share.
As we previously communicated, these results and guidance reflect the pending sale of the company’s ITO business to Atos, and the related reporting of the ITO business as a discontinued operation.
About Xerox
Xerox is a global business services, technology and document management company helping organizations transform the way they manage their business processes and information. Headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., we have more than 140,000 Xerox employees and do business in more than 180 countries. Together, we provide business process services, printing equipment, hardware and software technology for managing information — from data to documents.
Learn more at www.xerox.com. Non-GAAP Measures This release refers to the following non-GAAP financial measures: • Adjusted EPS (earnings per share) for the first-quarter 2015 as well as for the second-quarter and full-year 2015 guidance that excludes certain items. • Operating margin for the first-quarter 2015 that excludes certain expenses. • Constant Currency revenue growth for the first quarter 2015 as well as for the full-year 2015, which excludes the effects of currency translation. Refer to the “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section of this release for a discussion of these non-GAAP measures and their reconciliation to the reported GAAP measure.