Flir Systems saw a decrease of 33 per cent in turnover of its largely US government-funded detection segment in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same period last year. The fall, however, was offset by growth in its commercial segments, meaning the company recorded similar financial results to Q1 2013.
By the end of the first quarter – which finished 31 March 2014 – the company recorded $351.5 million, a $2.9 million rise on last year equating to 1 per cent growth.
Along with the drop in the detection segment, Flir saw a decrease of 1 per cent revenue in both the surveillance sector and the security sector.
However, the instruments segment contributed $84.1 million of revenue during the first quarter, up 7 per cent from last year. The OEM and emerging markets segment had $53.8 million of revenue, an increase of 7 per cent over the prior year. Revenue from the maritime segment was $52.6 million, and was up 4 per cent over the first quarter of 2013.
Flir's backlog of firm orders for delivery within the next twelve months was approximately $514 million as of 31 March 2014, an increase of $24 million during the quarter.
‘Our first quarter results were in-line with our expectations. Healthy growth in our commercial-oriented markets was offset by declines in government-funded sectors. We continued executing on our realignment plan, which we believe will be a valuable investment for our long-term performance,’ said Andy Teich, president and CEO of Flir. ‘We expect continued improvement as we move throughout this year and are excited about our product pipeline that is enabled by our new Lepton core.’
The company has said its management expects revenue for 2014 to be in the range of $1.45 billion to $1.55 billion and net earnings excluding restructuring charges associated with the business realignment to be in the range of $1.40 to $1.50 per diluted share.
