Reports Record Revenue and Profits for Fiscal Year 2012
Increases Quarterly Dividend by 28% to $0.32 per Share
Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX) today reported financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended June 29, 2012. During the fourth quarter, on a GAAP basis the company reported revenue of approximately $4.5 billion, gross margin of 33.1%, net income of $1.0 billion and diluted earnings per share of $2.37. On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes the net impact of certain items, Seagate reported gross margin of 33.6% and diluted earnings per share of $2.41.
In the June quarter, Seagate generated approximately $1.4 billion in cash from operations, paid cash dividends of $106 million and used approximately $1.2 billion to redeem approximately 45 million ordinary shares. Through the first half of the 2012 calendar year, Seagate has redeemed approximately 88 million ordinary shares, representing approximately 19% of the company’s market capitalization. Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments totaled $2.2 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, a sequential increase of approximately $67 million.
For the fiscal year ended June 29, 2012, on a GAAP basis Seagate reported revenue of $14.9 billion, gross margin of 31.4%, net income of $2.9 billion and diluted earnings per share of $6.49. On a non-GAAP basis, the company reported gross margin of 31.7% and diluted earnings per share of $6.75. In fiscal year 2012, Seagate returned over 85% of its operating cash flow to shareholders in the form dividends and share redemptions.
“As we announced previously, we were disappointed not to meet our revenue and margin plan for the fourth quarter as a result of the industry’s faster recovery from the supply chain disruption and an isolated supplier issue that we experienced,” said Steve Luczo, Seagate chairman and chief executive officer. “Nevertheless, we are pleased to have achieved record revenue and unit shipments for the June quarter, which enabled Seagate to continue to return significant value to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.”
For a detailed reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results, see accompanying financial tables.
Seagate has issued a Supplemental Commentary document. The Supplemental Commentary will not be read during today's call, but rather it is available in the investors section of seagate.com.
Quarterly Cash Dividend
The Board of Directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.32 per share, which will be payable on August 29, 2012 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 14, 2012. The payment of any future quarterly dividends will be at the discretion of the Board and will be dependent upon Seagate's financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.
Investor Communications
Seagate management held a public webcast today on its Investor Relations website at www.seagate.com/investors. During the conference call, the company provided an outlook for its first fiscal quarter of 2013 and its view of the remainder of the calendar year, including key underlying assumptions. Seagate is planning an investor and analyst meeting on September 21, 2012 to discuss the Company's longer-term strategic plan.
Replay
A replay will be available on Tuesday 31st July at approximately 11:00am Eastern Standard Time at www.seagate.com/investors.
About Seagate
Seagate is a world leader in hard disk drives and storage solutions. Learn more at www.seagate.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, in particular, statements about our plans, strategies and prospects and estimates of industry growth for the fiscal quarter ending September 30, 2012 and beyond. These statements identify prospective information and include words such as “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “projects” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date of this press release. Current expectations, forecasts and assumptions involve a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties, and other factors may be beyond the Company’s control. In particular, the uncertainty in global economic conditions continues to pose a risk to the Company’s operating and financial performance as consumers and businesses may defer purchases in response to tighter credit and financial news. Such risks and uncertainties also include, but are not limited to, the impact of the variable demand and adverse pricing environment for disk drives, particularly in view of current business and economic conditions; dependence on the Company’s ability to successfully qualify, manufacture and sell its disk drive products in increasing volumes on a cost-effective basis and with acceptable quality, particularly the new disk drive products with lower cost structures; the impact of competitive product announcements; and possible excess industry supply with respect to particular disk drive products; the Company’s ability to achieve projected cost savings in connection with restructuring plans; and significant disruption to the industry supply chain due to the severe flooding throughout parts of Thailand. Information concerning risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements is contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and Form 10-K/A as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 17, 2011 and August 24, 2011 respectively, and in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 30, 2012 which statements are incorporated into this press release by reference. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any subsequent date and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made.
View the full release with the associated financial tables here.