Aastra announces Q1 2009 results

Aastra announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2009. The company reported year-over-year improvement in earnings and sales, but a drop off from Q4 2008.

Net earnings in 2009 were up to $14.1 million ($1.02 diluted earnings per share), compared to $5.3 million ($0.33 diluted earnings per share) in the same period in 2008. Sales were up as well, to $219.3 million from $140 million in ‘08, with a significant increase in all regions as a result of the company's acquisition of Ericsson Enterprise's portfolio.

However, sales were down 16.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008 ($261.8 million), in part due to seasonality and also because of the economy. Gross margins improved to 48 percent of sales in Q1 2009, both in comparison to Q4 2008 (47 percent of sales) and year-over-year (44 percent of sales in Q1 2008).

During Q1, the company generated $20.2 million in cash flow. Aastra took the opportunity to buy back 1.4 million of its own common shares during the first quarter, spending $17.7 million in cash, and used another $14.9 million in cash to pay down a portion of its long-term loan balance. At the end of the quarter, Aastra had $66.9 million between cash and short-term investments.

For more:
- Aastra's press release on Q1 2009 results.

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