NCR Corp. today released its third-quarter earnings, and like many businesses this year, the company's revenue and income continued in a downward direction.
According to an earnings release from NCR, the company's Q3 revenue was $1.14 billion, up slightly from $1.12 billion in the second quarter, but down 18 percent from Q3 2008. Year-to-date revenue was $3.27 billion, down 16 percent from 2008.
NCR's net income for the third quarter came in at $15 million, 9 cents per share, down 35 percent from Q2 and down 81 percent from the $80 million in net income the company reported in Q3 2008. Year-to-date income is $23 million, 14 cents per share, down 87 percent from $172 million in 2008.
Bill Nuti, CEO of NCR, says consumers' financial woes and trepidation on the part of investors contributed to the sliding numbers.
"In the third quarter, financial services, and especially retail customer investments, were negatively impacted by the global economic downturn in most geographies," he said. "The willingness of customers to invest in the second quarter of 2008, which helped NCR deliver solid results in that quarter, did not spill over into the third quarter."
In the wake of the results, NCR also has revised its 2009 forecasts, projecting a decline of 12 percent to 14 percent in revenue from 2008, versus a previous projection of a 5 percent-to-10 percent decline. Nuti says, however, that the company is more optimistic about the coming months.
"That said, we were more encouraged by the conversations we were having with our customers about the fourth quarter and 2010, as well as our internal execution against our cost programs and strategic priorities," he said. "While we will take additional cost-reduction actions to right-size our enterprise, our early view is that 2010 will be a better year for NCR and for our customers, and should position NCR for moderate growth and margin expansion."
By segment, NCR took the hardest hit in the Europe/Middle East/Africa region, with a revenue decline of 22 percent that the company says related to lower product sales in financial services, retail and hospitality. In the Americas, revenue was down 17 percent, and in Asia-Pacific revenue declined 10 percent.
In the release, NCR also shared third-quarter business highlights with investors, including recent strides in its entertainment kiosk strategy, which the company has said it will invest $60 million in this year. The company also highlighted a recent curbside airline check-in kiosk deployment and its first U.S. convenience-store self-checkout deployment, along with a recent landmark ATM deal with the State Bank of India.
NCR also has announced plans to reduce its global workforce by an incremental 5 percent to 10 percent by the end of 2009 — a move Nuti says will help the company recover.
"We are taking actions to further align our cost structure," he said. "The reduction of our global workforce will result in additional structural efficiencies and position NCR for sustainable, long-term growth."
