Cisco’s Q3 results show economy bite marks

Cisco has officially has released its latest quarterly financial results, announcing a fall in sales but choosing to remain positive by claiming the company has done well during a difficult time.

In its results, for the third quarter ending 25 April, the firm reported sales of $8.2 billion (5.4 billion), a fall of 17 per cent, and earnings of $1.3 billion, a fall of 21 per cent against the previous quarter.

However, in the current economic climate this was still deemed as good news by Cisco's leader John Chambers. "Cisco delivered solid financial performance despite a challenging global economy and period of evolving market dynamics," its chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Chambers added: "These results demonstrate our ability to drive operational excellence and manage profitability across varying economic cycles. We will use this period of market transition to align and optimise resources, make strategic investments, move into market adjacencies and enhance relationships with our customers. As we exit the quarter with a compelling financial position and an innovation engine from both a products and business model perspective, we believe we are well positioned for the eventual economic recovery."

Net sales for the nine-month period were $27.6 billion, compared with $29.2 billion for the same period last year. Net income for the first nine months of fiscal 2009 was $5.1 billion, compared with $6.0 billion in the first nine months of fiscal 2008. In a conference call with analysts Chambers added that he was seeing a levelling off, or a stabilising, in its falling sales.

Cisco said it expects revenue for the current quarter to be in the region of $8.6 billion. Although, this still represents a fall of roughly 20 per cent against the previous year, it is a smaller drop than analysts were expecting.