Harman executives are optimistic about their potential for growth in 2015, particularly after the company acquired AMX earlier this year.
According to a transcript of Harman’s fourth-quarter and fiscal 2014 earnings call, published by Seeking Alpha, the company’s net sales in the quarter were $1.4 billion, an increase of 22 percent, with all three of the company’s divisions reporting double-digit growth and double-digit profit.
“Our performance for the top line resulted in a strong bottom line,” said chairman, CEO and president Dinesh Paliwal, according to the transcript. Harman finished the quarter with $154 million in EBITDA, he said, an improvement of 28% compared to the prior year, and earnings per share of $1.25, an improvement of 38%.
“This closes out a record year for Harman,” said Paliwal. Revenues reached an all-time high of $5.3 billion, an increase of 24% compared to the prior year, EBITDA totaled $555 million, an improvement of 35%, and EPS improved to 43% to $4.41, he said.
Harman’s professional division “continue(s) to experience robust demand for audio and lighting products,” said Paliwal. Its audio and lighting system solutions were showcased at eight of the 12 largest FIFA World Cup stadiums, he said, and at the opening and closing ceremonies. Harman also launched 44 new products in the final three months of fiscal 2014.
And, oh yeah, they officially acquired AMX in June.
“AMX products address the needs of multiple sectors, including finance, education, commercial and government customers, including Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Harvard University, Boeing and IBM, just to name a few,” said Paliwal. “AMX solutions also play an integral role in the command centers on several high-security government institutions globally. With the addition of AMX, Harman is uniquely positioned to provide complete audio, video, lighting and automation solutions to our customers globally.”
Paliwal said he hoped listeners noted “a lot of excitement in our voice and a lot of passion.”
“We’re on a journey which has tremendous upside for us and that is reflected in our ‘15 and ‘16 guidance, and of course, many more years of good development,” said Paliwal.
“We’re very pleased with the results we issued today. Of course, we feel good about it. Now we are focused on ‘15. We’re even more excited about the future and our team is more motivated than ever. We are focused on executing because that’s what we know how to do well. Going into fiscal ‘15 is all about execution,” he said.
Harman also continues to increase its geographic reach, says Paliwal, saying the company had less than 5 percent of its annual revenue from the so-called BRIC region (Brazil, Russia, India and China) seven years ago and expects that to grow to nearly 20 percent in fiscal 2015.
He expects North America to contribute about 40 percent of Harman’s revenue, up to 30 percent from Europe and the rest of the world at 15 percent in fiscal 2015.
“It excites me, that distribution by geography, distribution by divisions and also in terms of sectors we play,” said Paliwal.
In terms of connection and how Harman customers will see AMX’s influence going forward, Paliwal sees a promising future together.
“We led the industry and we will continue to lead the connected car where our biometric-based headphones and technology we are in the pipeline working on, will lead the word connected lifestyle, and with the AMX acquisition, we’re going to go off in a big way, connected enterprise,” he said.
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