Tyco International Posts Profit In Q4; Revenue Tops View

(RTTNews) - Swiss security products maker Tyco International Ltd. (TYC) Thursday reported a profit for the fourth quarter with a marginal growth in revenues, as the prior year was hit by one-time items. Revenue edged up year-over-year, and topped estimates.

Tyco Chief Executive Officer George Oliver said, "This was another very good quarter and a solid finish to the fiscal year. Accelerated growth in service and products, along with increased benefits of our productivity initiatives, drove 130 basis points of segment operating margin expansion and 16% EPS growth in the quarter."

Net income attributable to common shareholders was $166 million or $0.35 a share, compared to a loss of $419 million or $0.91 a share last year.

Special items reduced earnings by $0.18 per share, while in the prior year its impact was $1.70 per share.

Earnings per share from continuing operations before special items totaled $0.52, while it amounted to $0.34 last year.

On average, 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $0.52 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Revenues edged up 1 percent to $2.76 billion from $2.73 billion. Analysts estimated revenues of $2.74 billion.

Organic revenue grew 1 percent with 8 percent growth in products, 4 percent growth in service and a 6 percent drop in installation revenue. Acquisitions contributed two percentage points of growth which was offset by the impact of divestitures and changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

Revenue dropped 4 percent in North America Systems Installation & Services to $996 million, including service growth of 5 percent and an installation decline of 10 percent, due to continued pressure in the non-residential construction market as well as with project selectivity.

Rest of World Systems Installation & Services generated $1.1 billion, up 1 percent from last year, with a service revenue increase of 3 percent and installation revenue decline of 1.5 percent.

Global Products revenue climbed 12 percent to $627 million, including a 2.5 percent benefit from acquisitions.

The board approved an annual dividend increase of 13 percent to $0.72 per share from $0.64 per share.

Tyco also announced the acquisition of Westfire, Inc., a special-applications fire protection services provider with operations in the U.S., Chile and Peru.

Westfire provides critical special-hazard suppression and detection applications in mining, telecommunications and other vertical markets.

Westfire's US operations are concentrated in the Western United States. It will be combined with Tyco's North American Fire Services business. Westfire's skilled and experienced workforce will enhance Tyco's service differentiation with added project design and execution capabilities.

In Latin America, this acquisition enhances Tyco's service capabilities in the mining industry in Chile and provides an entry into the Peruvian market.

Westfire is already an established customer of Tyco's Fire Protection Products business and will have the opportunity to further leverage this relationship to meet customer requirements in mining and telecommunications.

The transaction closed on November 8. Westfire is expected to generate about $80 million in annualized revenues in fiscal year 2014.

TYC closed up 1.1 percent on Wednesday at $36.73.