Quickies: Hexagon acquires, Geometric reports

Just because we’re off celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day or the US Presidential Inauguration, or here in Orlando at SolidWorks World doesn’t mean lots wasn’t happening in the rest of the world. A quick recap of what you might have missed: Hexagon adds distribution in Russia Hexagon is acquiring Navgeocom, the largest distributor for Leica Geosystems in the Russian Federation. Excluding intercompany revenue, Navgeocom’s turnover in 2012 was about €10 million. According to Hexagon’s statement, the acquisition furthers its aim of establishing a strong direct presence in all key markets. Hexagon CEO Ola Rollén said in a statement that this acquisition expands the company’s presence in Russia and Central Asia. He also emphasized the growing importance of solutions like Hexagons in Russia: “Russia is entering into a phase of significant investment in transport infrastructure. In addition to Russian highways, it includes significantly increasing the size of Moscow and surrounding its perimeter with a motorway, an expressway and high-speed rail system between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and an international transport passage programme between Europe and West China … [T]hese projects provide substantial growth opportunities across Hexagon and improve our ability to serve customers in the Russian Federation.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close at the end of February 2013 and will contribute to Hexagon’s earnings. Geometric lowers outlook Geometric yesterday announced that revenue for the December quarter was $46 million, down 3% sequentially but up roughly 14% over a year ago. CEO Manu Parpia said, “The revenues this quarter have been disappointing. Nonetheless EPS is still robust, reflecting the benefit of our efforts to streamline our operations. The decline in revenues was mainly due to cutbacks at one major customer, which will also have an adverse impact this quarter as some cutbacks took effect late last year. Many of our other accounts continue to grow reflecting the continued demand for engineering services. Overall our revenues will show growth in Q4 due to our 3Cap acquisition”. Geometric’s statement said that it expects to resume revenue growth in fiscal 2014.