SANTA ROSA -- Agilent Technoloies Inc. (NYSE: A) reported today that the Santa Rosa-headquartered Electronic Measurement Group (EMG)'s revenues declined 7 percent in the first fiscal quarter of 2013 compared with the prior year.
The global technology company, which overall showed a slight revenue gain of 3 percent, attributed the decline to a slowdown in the communications market.
EMG revenues for Q1 2013 were $722 million, down from $778 million for Q1 2012. Orders were down to $749 million compared with $756 million for the same period last year. Quarter-by-quarter revenues decined from $816 million, a drop partially attributable to cyclical changes in the marketplace.
According to EMG president Guy Sene, three factors contributed to the decline: global slowing in wireless communications - including a plateau in the sales of smart phones - anticipated cuts in U.S. defense spending and a weakening of the Japanese yen against the dollar.
"Our focus continues to be on new products rather than major restructuring," said Mr. Sene. "EMG has just released a real time spectrum analyzer that promises to do exceptionally well in the market. We feel confident that communications and defense markets will pick up, if not this quarter, then most likely by the end of the year."
Agilent shares dropped 17 cents to $44.58 a share on afterhours trading following today's announcement.
Agilent employs 1,200 in Santa Rosa.
