Better Than Expected Fiscal 2Q12 Revenues for Seagate

Seagate Technology plc provided preliminary financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended December 30, 2011.

The acquisition of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd‘s hard disk drive business closed on December 19, 2011 and these preliminary financial results include Samsung operating activity from that date.

The company shipped approximately 47 million disk drives, which included approximately 700,000 Samsung disk drives, and expects to report revenue for its fiscal second quarter 2012 of $3.1 – $3.2 billion. Before giving effect to charges related to the acquisition of Samsung’s hard disk drive business that are not yet determinable, the company expects gross margin as a percent of revenue to be at least 30.5%, operating expenses (Product Development, Marketing and Administrative) to be approximately $390 million, and diluted outstanding shares to be 440 million.

"The better than expected results for the December quarter are attributed to the company’s outstanding operational performance and overall strong execution," said Steve Luczo, Seagate CEO and chairman. "Due to our best-in-class operations, diversified supply-chain and differentiated manufacturing footprint, we continuously optimized our builds for customers during the quarter. This is best evidenced by our company’s ability to increase the average capacity per drive shipped quarter-over-quarter to a record 653 gigabytes, despite the significant supply chain disruption. These results also reflect the hard work and resiliency of the Seagate teams and our strategic suppliers who are working to help the industry recover from the massive disruption caused by the flooding in Thailand."

Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities at the end of the December quarter totaled more than $2.1 billion, inclusive of substantial outflows of approximately $1.2 billion during the quarter for matured debt and cash consideration for the Samsung transaction.

Update to Fiscal 3Q2012 Financial Outlook
The company continues to believe that during calendar 2012 unit demand will exceed supply and combined with the high growth rate in the demand for raw storage, the exabyte shortage will be more pronounced than the unit shortage, and as a result pricing is expected to remain stable.

The company’s outlook for the March 2012 quarter excludes certain costs related to integration activities, transition support services and acquisition related costs associated with the acquisition of Samsung’s hard disk drive operations as they are not yet determinable. Specifically for the March 2012 quarter, and before giving effect to the acquisition related charges referenced above, the company expects unit shipments to increase as compared to the December quarter, revenue of $4.2-$4.5 billion, gross margin as a percent of revenue of at least 33%, and operating expenses (Product Development, Marketing and Administrative) to be approximately $415 million. Based on the shares outstanding at the beginning of the March 2012 quarter, diluted outstanding shares are expected to be approximately 480 million.

Arbitration Award
These preliminary results and fiscal third quarter outlook provided do not include the arbitration award disclosed on November 21, 2011.