Cisco beats the drum for security as it reports Q1

Revenue creeps up as Cisco cites 'challenging' global environment

Cisco has hailed its performance in security in its Q1, as it reports a small annual rise in sales.

For the three months to 29 October, GAAP net profit at Cisco fell four per cent annually to $2.3bn (£1.84bn), on GAAP revenue which over the same period rose one per cent to $12.4bn.

EMEA sales were flat, Americas revenue was down one per cent, and sales rose six per cent in APJ, all on a year-on-year basis.

Security and NGN Routing were the star performers for Cisco, with revenue in those segments rising 11 per cent and six per cent annually. Switching sales fell seven per cent over the same period, while sales in its Collaboration and Datacentre, and Wireless and Service Provider Video businesses fell three per cent and two per cent respectively.

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins (pictured) hailed Cisco's performance in security on an earnings call transcribed by Seeking Alpha.

"Let me review a few areas of our business where our innovation is driving momentum," he said. "First security: our security revenue grew 11 per cent, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. We're driving more subscription-based recurring business, resulting in deferred revenue growth of 39 per cent. Our competitive position in security is growing stronger as our integrated architecture approach and best-of-breed portfolio resonates with our customers. In fact, we're the only company with security product revenue exceeding $2bn annualised run rate with double-digit growth."

TechMarketView analyst Martin Courtney said:

"Cisco is now prioritising cloud managed security, collaboration and networking services and its challenge over the next few years is to grow these elements of the business to offset continuing declines in traditional switching and router hardware sales.

"There are signs it is doing that, with product deferred revenue related to recurring software and subscription businesses growing 48 per cent to $3.8bn but there are continuing concerns with the pace of change."

On the call, Robbins was quizzed on what impact he thought the US election has had on business.

He said: "Post-election, most CEOs I talk to are pragmatic about the result and now we are all focused on the policy issues that matter to each of our companies. President-elect Trump appears to be very business oriented and is very focused on driving the US economy and anytime the US economy improves, that's certainly good for us."