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IBM Reports 2014 4Q And Full-Year Results

IBM

IBM reported fourth-quarter 2014 diluted earnings from continuing operations of $5.54 per share, compared with diluted earnings of $5.76 per share in the fourth-quarter of 2013, a decrease of 4 percent. Fourth-quarter net income from continuing operations was $5.5 billion compared with $6.2 billion in the fourth-quarter of 2013, a decrease of 11 percent.

For the fourth-quarter of 2014, IBM reported consolidated net income of $5.5 billion or $5.51 of diluted earnings per share, including operating net losses in discontinued operations related to the microelectronics manufacturing business.

Total revenues from continuing operations for the fourth-quarter of 2014 of $24.1 billion were down 12 percent (down 2 percent, adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency) from the fourth-quarter of 2013 and were down 1 percent for the full year 2014, adjusting for the impact of the divested businesses and for currency.

Ginni Rometty (Chairman, president and chief executive officer, IBM): We are making significant progress in our transformation, continuing to shift IBM’s business to higher value, and investing and positioning ourselves for the longer term.   In 2014, we repositioned our hardware portfolio for higher value, maintained a services backlog of $128 billion and achieved strong revenue growth across cloud, analytics, mobile, social and security.  Together these strategic imperatives grew 16 percent in 2014 and now represent $25 billion and 27 percent of our revenue.

Geographic Regions

The Americas’ fourth-quarter revenues were $11.1 billion, a decrease of 9 percent (down 4 percent, adjusting for divested businesses and currency) from the 2013 period.  Revenues from Europe/Middle East/Africa were down 13 percent to $8.0 billion (down 1 percent, adjusting for divested businesses and currency).  Asia-Pacific revenues decreased 17 percent (down 2 percent, adjusting for divested businesses and currency) to $4.9 billion.

Growth Markets and Major Markets

Revenues from the company’s growth markets were down 16 percent (down 2 percent, adjusting for divested businesses and currency).  Revenues in the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — were down 21 percent (down 8 percent, adjusting for divested businesses and currency). China revenues were down 1 percent, adjusting for divested businesses and currency.  Revenues from the company’s major markets were down 11 percent (down 2 percent, adjusting for divested businesses and currency).

Services

Global Services segment revenues decreased 8 percent (flat adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency) to $13.5 billion.  Global Technology Services segment revenues decreased 8 percent (up 2 percent adjusting for the impact of the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and for currency) to $9.2 billion.  Global Business Services segment revenues were down 8 percent (down 3 percent, adjusting for currency) to $4.3 billion.

The estimated services backlog at December 31, 2014 was $128 billion, flat year to year adjusting for the divested customer care outsourcing and System x businesses and currency.

Software

Revenues from the Software segment were $7.6 billion, down 7 percent (down 3 percent, adjusting for currency) compared with the fourth-quarter of 2013.   Software pre-tax income decreased 11 percent and pre-tax margin decreased to 44.7 percent.

Revenues from IBM’s key middleware products, which include WebSphere, Information Management, Tivoli, Workforce Solutions and Rational products, were $5.4 billion, down 6 percent (down 3 percent, adjusting for currency) versus the fourth-quarter of 2013.  Operating systems revenues of $557 million were down 19 percent (down 16 percent, adjusting for currency) compared with the prior-year quarter.

Financing

Global Financing segment revenues were flat (up 5 percent, adjusting for currency) in the fourth-quarter to $532 million.  Pre-tax income for the segment decreased 11 percent to $526 million.

Hardware

Revenues from continuing operations for the Systems and Technology segment totaled $2.4 billion for the quarter, down 39 percent (down 12 percent, adjusting for the impact of the divested System x business and currency) from the fourth-quarter of 2013.  Systems and Technology pre-tax income increased 12 percent and pre-tax margin increased to 15.5 percent.

Revenues from Power Systems were down 13 percent (down 11 percent, adjusting for currency) compared with the 2013 period.  Revenues from System z mainframe server products decreased 26 percent (down 23 percent, adjusting for currency).  Revenues from System Storage decreased 8 percent (down 5 percent, adjusting for currency).

Gross Profit

The company’s total gross profit margin from continuing operations was 53.3 percent in the 2014 fourth-quarter period compared with 52.4 percent in the 2013 fourth-quarter period.

Expense

Total reported expense and other income from continuing operations declined 20 percent to $5.8 billion compared with the prior year period.

IBM ended the fourth-quarter 2014 with $8.5 billion of cash on hand and generated free cash flow of $6.6 billion, excluding Global Financing receivables, down approximately $1.8 billion year over year.  In the fourth quarter of 2014, the company returned $1.2 billion to shareholders through $1.1 billion in dividends and $0.1 billion of gross share repurchases.

At the end of December 2014, IBM had approximately $6.3 billion remaining from the current share repurchase authorization.

Full-Year 2014 Results

Net income from continuing operations for the twelve months ended December 31, 2014 was $15.8 billion compared with $16.9 billion in the year-ago period, a decrease of 7 percent.  Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were $15.59, up 2 percent compared to the 2013 period.

The consolidated diluted earnings per share were $11.90 as compared to $14.94 per share in 2013, down 20 percent. Revenues from continuing operations for the twelve-month period totaled $92.8 billion, a decrease of 6 percent (down 1 percent, adjusting for divested businesses and currency) compared with $98.4 billion for the twelve months of 2013.

[Image courtesy: IBM]

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