Harris Corporation, a long-time Quincy employer, will shutter its broadcast communications division. The trade publication Radio World reported the announcement made Tuesday by Harris President and CEO William M. Brown. “The decision to divest Broadcast Communications resulted from a thorough review of our business portfolio, which determined that the business is no longer aligned with the company’s long-term strategy,” he said.
The company manufactures radio and television equipment including transmitters, consoles and STL equipment. There is no word on how the closure will affect the company’s Quincy TV and radio transmission manufacturing facility. The announcement was made in conjunction with the release of the company’s results for the first quarter of 2012. It also comes just months after Harris announced that it would shut down its cyber integrated solutions business.
Both Harris broadcast and Harris cyber integrated solutions were part the company’s Integrated Network Solutions unit. That section of the company was created last year when Harris realigned its divisions.
Company spokeswoman Terri Black did not return phone calls Tuesday seeking comment.
The Melbourne, Florida-based company has more than 16,900 employees. About 300 of them work at the Quincy facility. Quincy Mayor John Spring will host a press conference at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to address the Harris Corp. announcement.
This article can be found here. ConnectTriStates.com (Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa)
Harris Corporation Reports Fiscal 2012 Third Quarter Results Approves Plan for Divestiture of Broadcast Communications; Provides Initial Guidance for Fiscal 2013
The following is an excerpt from the Harris Corporation Reports Fiscal 2012 Third Quarter Results…
“Operating performance in both RF Communications and Government Communications Systems was excellent and drove higher non-GAAP operating income. In Integrated Network Solutions, we are exiting the Cyber Integrated Solutions business and selling the underutilized facility in Virginia, as previously announced in the quarter. In addition, we are announcing plans to divest Broadcast Communications. The decision to divest Broadcast Communications resulted from a thorough review of our business portfolio, which determined that the business is no longer aligned with the company’s long-term strategy. The plan to sell these assets supports our disciplined approach to capital allocation, and we intend to use the proceeds to return cash to shareholders and invest in growing our core businesses.”
RF Communications
Revenue for the RF Communications segment was $538 million compared with $550 million in the prior year. Tactical Communications revenue was $398 million and declined 8 percent from the prior year. Public Safety and Professional Communications revenue was $140 million and increased 18 percent over the prior year. Operating income for the RF Communications segment was $182 million compared with $179 million in the prior year, and operating margin was 33.8 percent compared with 32.5 percent in the prior year.
Orders for the segment totaled $629 million, including $534 million in Tactical Communications and $95 million in Public Safety and Professional Communications. Book-to-bill was 1.17 for the segment. At the end of the third quarter, backlog was $717 million in Tactical Communications and $635 million in Public Safety and Professional Communications.
Orders in the quarter included $250 million from the Australian Department of Defence for Falcon II® and Falcon III® radios, bringing orders to date to $362 million for this multi-year modernization program that has a potential value of $500 million. Orders also included $64 million from the U.S. Marine Corps, $51 million from the Government of Iraq, $26 million from the Kingdom of Jordan, and $25 million from two countries in the Middle East. Harris was also awarded a $49 million IDIQ contract to provide Unity® Multiband Land Mobile Radios to the U.S. Marine Corps for first-responder communications at facilities worldwide.
Following the close of the quarter, Harris was awarded a five-year IDIQ contract with a potential value of $400 million to provide Falcon III tactical radios and support to the U.S. Special Operations Command and received an initial order for $39 million for wideband networking radios.
