ARRIS Profit Rises, To Buy Brocade's Networking Biz For $800 Mln

(RTTNews) - ARRIS International plc (ARRS) Wednesday reported an increase in profit for the fourth quarter, as revenues surged by 60 percent. The company also agreed to buy Brocade's networking business.

Fourth-quarter profit of $86.7 million or $0.45 per share, up from $30.0 million or $0.20 per share last year. Sales for the quarter rose 60 percent to $1.76 billion from $1.01 billion last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.70 per share and revenues of $1.70 billion.

"We ended the year with a strong fourth quarter, delivering results ahead of both our quarterly and annual guidance," said Bruce McClelland, ARRIS CEO.

Looking forward to the first quarter, ARRIS expects adjusted revenues of $1.440 billion to $1.490 billion adjusted loss per share of $0.36 to $0.40.

"With regards to the remainder of 2017, we expect the year to follow a similar trend to 2016. Guidance does not include the pending acquisition of the Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch business announced today," added McClelland.

Separately, ARRIS said it agreed to with Broadcom to acquire Brocade Communication Systems Inc.'s Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch business for $800 million in cash, following the closing of Broadcom's acquisition of Brocade.

ARRIS expects the acquisition to be accretive to its adjusted earnings in the first 12 months.

The portfolio will expand ARRIS's leadership in converged wired and wireless networking technologies beyond the home into the education, public venue, enterprise, hospitality, and MDU segments. ARRIS plans to establish a dedicated business unit within the company focused on innovative wireless networking and wired switching technology to address evolving and emerging needs across a number of vertical markets. The business unit will be led by current Ruckus COO, Dan Rabinovitsj.