Itron Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2011 Financial Results

LIBERTY LAKE, Wash.—February 15, 2012—Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) announced today financial results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2011. Highlights include:

• Quarterly and full year revenues of $642 million and $2.4 billion;
• Quarterly and full year GAAP net loss per share of $1.35 and $12.56, inclusive of a non-cash goodwill impairment charge recorded during the year of $585 million, or $14.40 per share;
• Quarterly and full year non-GAAP diluted net earnings per share of $1.19 and $4.29;
• Full year cash flow from operations and free cash flow of $252 million and $192 million;
• Quarterly and full year adjusted EBITDA of $79 million and $313 million;
• Twelve-month backlog of $766 million and total backlog of $1.3 billion; and
• Quarterly bookings of $515 million.

"Our fourth quarter results produced record revenue and cash flow but our profitability was impacted by restructuring charges, the finalization of the goodwill impairment and a warranty charge," said LeRoy Nosbaum, Itron's president and chief executive officer. "Our core operating results across electric, gas and water continue to be strong and we are focused on building a platform and infrastructure to support long-term growth and improved profitability."

Financial Results
Revenues increased $22 million, or 4 percent, for the quarter and $175 million, or 8 percent, for the year compared to the respective periods last year. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates unfavorably impacted revenue by $7.4 million for the quarter, and favorably impacted the year by $61 million. The increase in revenue for the quarter was due to increased OpenWay project revenue in the North America segment and increased electric and gas smart metering projects in the International segment. The revenue growth for the year was primarily due to increased electric, gas and water smart metering projects in the International segment.

Gross margin for the quarter was 29.8 percent, which was consistent with the prior year fourth quarter margin of 29.9 percent. Improvement in gross margin from product mix was offset by higher material costs. Gross margin for the year was 30.5 percent compared to 30.9 percent in 2010. Benefits from increased volumes and product mix were offset by higher material costs, lower OpenWay margins and increased warranty expense.

GAAP operating expenses were $252 million in the fourth quarter compared to $142 million in the same period last year. The increase in expenses was due to restructuring charges of $65 million and the finalization of a goodwill assessment which resulted in a non-cash impairment charge of $44 million. Expenses for the year were $1.2 billion, an increase of $688 million over last year. The increase was due to restructuring charges of $68 million and a goodwill impairment charge of $585 million.

Net interest expense was $2.2 million for the quarter and $35.9 million for the year, compared to $12.5 million and $54.3 million in the same periods last year. The company refinanced its bank debt in August 2011 which significantly reduced the interest rate. The decrease in net interest expense was due to lower interest expense resulting from a decreased principal balance and lower effective interest rates. During 2011, we reduced our debt by approximately $178 million.

GAAP net loss and diluted EPS for the fourth quarter and year were $55 million, or $1.35 per share, and $510 million, or $12.56 per share. This compares with net income of $27 million, or 65 cents per share, and $105 million, or $2.56 per share, in the same periods in 2010. The decrease in 2011 net income for the quarter and year was primarily due to expenses related to restructuring and the impairment of goodwill.

Non-GAAP operating expenses for the quarter, which excludes amortization of intangibles, restructuring charges and the impairment of goodwill, increased $2 million over prior year. An increase of $3 million related to product research and development, as well as global marketing activity, was partially offset by a decrease of $1 million due to currency fluctuations. Non-GAAP net income and diluted EPS for the fourth quarter and year were $49 million, or $1.19 per share, and $176 million, or $4.29 per share. This compares with non-GAAP net income of $39 million, or 95 cents per share, and $159 million, or $3.89 per share, in the same periods in 2010. The increase in non-GAAP net income for the quarter was due to increased contribution from the North America segment, decreased interest expense and decreased tax expense. The increase in non-GAAP net income for the year was primarily due to higher operating income in the International segment, lower interest expense and lower tax expense.

During the fourth quarter, the company repurchased 823,349 shares of Itron common stock at an average price of $35.74 per share pursuant to a Board authorization to repurchase up to $100 million of Itron common stock during a 12-month period beginning October 2011. Approximately 2 percent of the common shares outstanding have been repurchased under the program.

Acquisition of SmartSynch, Inc.
The company also announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire SmartSynch, Inc. Excluding amortization of acquired intangible assets, purchase accounting adjustments and acquisition related charges, the company anticipates that the acquisition will add approximately $50 million in revenues and be dilutive to non-GAAP net earnings per share by less than $0.10 for fiscal year 2012. The acquisition is anticipated to be accretive to revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal year 2013.

Financial Guidance
Itron's guidance for the full-year 2012 is as follows:

• Revenue between $2.1 billion and $2.3 billion
• Non-GAAP diluted EPS between $3.80 and $4.20

The company's guidance assumes a gross margin of 32 percent, a Euro to U.S. dollar average exchange rate of $1.37, average shares outstanding of approximately 40.4 million and a non-GAAP effective tax rate of 27 percent. The guidance also includes the anticipated financial impact of the acquisition of SmartSynch, Inc.

Earnings Conference Call
Itron will host a conference call to discuss the financial results and guidance contained in this release at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on February 15, 2012. The call will be webcast in a listen-only mode. Webcast information and conference call materials will be made available 15 minutes before the start of the call and are accessible on Itron's website at www.itron.com under the Investors page. The webcast replay will begin after the conclusion of the live call and will be available for two weeks. A telephone replay of the call will also be available approximately one hour after the conclusion of the live call, for 48 hours, and is accessible by dialing (888) 203-1112 (Domestic) or (719) 457-0820 (International), entering passcode 7499552.

Forward Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements concerning our expectations about operations, financial performance, sales, earnings and cash flows. These statements reflect our current plans and expectations and are based on information currently available. The statements rely on a number of assumptions and estimates, which could be inaccurate, and which are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to vary materially from those anticipated. Risks and uncertainties include the rate and timing of customer demand for our products, rescheduling of current customer orders, changes in estimated liabilities for product warranties, changes in laws and regulations, our dependence on new product development and intellectual property, future acquisitions, changes in estimates for stock-based and bonus compensation, increasing volatility in foreign exchange rates, international business risks and other factors which are more fully described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 and other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Itron undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, including our business outlook.

Non-GAAP Financial Information
To supplement our consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with GAAP, we use certain non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP operating expense, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted EPS, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow. We provide these non-GAAP financial measures because we believe they provide greater transparency and represent supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. Specifically, these non-GAAP financial measures are provided to enhance investors' overall understanding of our current financial performance and our future anticipated performance by excluding infrequent or non-cash costs, particularly those associated with acquisitions. We exclude certain infrequent costs, particularly those associated with acquisitions, in our non-GAAP financial measures as we believe the net result is a measure of our core business. Non-GAAP performance measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Finally, our non-GAAP financial measures may be different from those reported by other companies. A more detailed discussion of why we use non-GAAP financial measures, the limitations of using such measures, and reconciliations between non-GAAP and the nearest GAAP financial measures are included in this press release.

Statements of operations, segment information, balance sheets, cash flow statements and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures follow.

Related Documents
Itron Q4 2011 Earnings Statement.