Motorola Inc reported fourth-quarter and yearly results that were a near-miss as far as Wall Street is concerned. The Schaumburg, Illinois company posted fourth-quarter net income up 35% at $321m on revenue up 7.7% at $8.28bn. Earnings per share for the quarter rose 36% to $0.53, including one-time restructuring charges $110m, or $0.12 per share. Net of the charges, the $0.65 per share still fell $0.03 short of the First Call consensus. For the year, net income rose just 2.3% to $1.18bn on revenue up only 6.5% at $29.79bn. Earnings per share inched up 2.1% to $1.94. Net of charges of $306m, or $0.32 per share, the year would have seen earnings of $2.26, also shy of estimates by $0.11. 1996 results also included charges of $183m and $136m for the quarter and year, respectively. The company pins most of the blame for its fourth quarter on the Asian economic situation, and warns that its effect will be felt for at least the first half of 1998. For fiscal 1997, Cellular products sales grew 10% to $11.93bn, while semiconductor products saw just 2% growth at $8.0bn. Land mobile products saw a healthy 23% growth to $4.93bn, but messaging, information and media products slipped 4% to $3.79bn. Operating profit as a percentage of sales slipped to 7.8% from 8.3% in 1996. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose to 18.5% of sales, up from 16.9% last year.
