CAYMAN ISLANDS — (BUSINESS WIRE) — February 24, 2010 — Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN) today announced strong fourth quarter results including revenue and earnings per share growth for the period ended December 26, 2009.
Fourth Quarter 2009 Financial highlights:
-
Total revenue of $1.059 billion, up 1% from $1.048 billion in fourth
quarter 2008
- Automotive/Mobile segment revenue decreased 2% to $812 million
- Outdoor/Fitness segment revenue increased 24% to $149 million
- Aviation segment revenue decreased 4% to $64 million
- Marine segment revenue increased 2% to $34 million
-
North America and Asia experienced year-over-year revenue growth while
Europe declined slightly:
- North America revenue was $768 million compared to $761 million, up 1%
- Europe revenue was $246 million compared to $251 million, down 2%
- Asia revenue was $45 million compared to $36 million, up 25%
- Gross margin improved to 45.9% compared to 41.1% in fourth quarter 2008
- Operating margin improved to 27.6% compared to 22.6% in fourth quarter 2008
- Diluted earnings per share increased 77% to $1.38 from $0.78 in fourth quarter 2008; pro forma earnings per share increased 54% to $1.43 from $0.93 in the same quarter in 2008. (Pro forma earnings per share excludes the impact of foreign currency translation gain or loss.)
- Generated $232 million of free cash flow in fourth quarter 2009 and paid the 2009 annual dividend of $0.75 per share for a cash and marketable securities balance of just under $1.9 billion.
Fiscal Year 2009 Financial highlights:
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Total revenue of $2.95 billion, down 16% from $3.49 billion in 2008
- Automotive/Mobile segment revenue decreased 19% to $2.05 billion
- Outdoor/Fitness segment revenue increased 10% to $469 million
- Aviation segment revenue decreased 24% to $246 million
- Marine segment revenue decreased 13% to $177 million
-
North America and Europe experienced a slowdown in revenues:
- North America revenue was $1.97 billion compared to $2.34 billion, down 16%
- Europe revenue was $824 million compared to $1.01 billion, down 18%
- Asia revenue was $150 million compared to $145 million, up 3%
- Gross margin improved to 49.0% compared to 44.5% in 2008
- Operating margin improved to 26.7% from 24.7% in 2008
- Diluted earnings per share increased 1% to $3.50 from $3.48 in fiscal year 2008; pro forma EPS increased 3% to $3.53 from $3.42 in fiscal year 2008. (Pro forma earnings per share excludes the impact of foreign currency translation gain or loss and the 2008 gain on sale of TeleAtlas N.V. shares.)
- Generated over $1 billion of free cash flow in 2009.
Business highlights:
- Achieved full year earnings per share growth driven by outstanding operational execution allowing for gross margin and operating margin expansion of 450 and 200 basis points respectively, as well as a lower effective tax rate.
- Sold 6.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2009 driven by PND unit growth in both North America and Asia.
- Reported 49% sequential revenue growth in the automotive/mobile segment as the PND category continued to be popular with consumers during the holiday season.
- Continued to be the world-wide PND market share leader with independent market share research indicating that we have expanded our leadership position in the North American PND market to approximately 60% share. We maintained a PND market share of approximately 20% in Europe.
- Accelerated revenue growth in the outdoor/fitness segment as our fitness products proved to be a hot category in the fourth quarter.
- Continued to innovate across our product portfolio with enhanced offerings for motorcycle enthusiasts, mariners and golfers to further our competitive position in each of these markets.
- Received supplemental type certification from the Federal Aviation Administration on our GTS traffic series which represents a new product category for our aviation business and an opportunity for revenue growth.
- Introduced two next generation smartphone products recently at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to be available in 2 nd quarter.
