Unisys Sees Q3 Revenue Rebound

After a series of disappointing quarters, Unisys notched some gains in the third quarter, during which the company said it saw growing sales, earnings and demand for its products.

The company reported Tuesday that sales for the quarter totaled $883 million, up 11 percent from the year-ago period. Net income was $48 million, up from a loss of $11.6 million in the same quarter last year.

"The third quarter reflected solid execution by the company. We remain focused on executing on our strategy and closing out the fours quarter for our shareholders, our customers and our employees," CFO and SVP Janet Haugen said during the company's earnings call.

[Related: Unisys CEO Ed Coleman Leaving Company On Heels Of Dropping Sales And Earnings]

The numbers are a positive change for the solution provider, No. 17 on CRN's SP500 list, after multiple quarters of declining revenues and earnings. The company's posted losses in seven of the 11 quarters since the start of 2012.

Unisys is also about to undergo a change, as CEO Ed Coleman will leave the company effective Dec. 1. The company did not cite a reason for Coleman's departure, only saying that it was the "right time" for a change. Coleman did not discuss his imminent departure on the call.

Unisys saw growth in both its technology and its services businesses in the quarter. Unisys's services business was up 6 percent to $763 million, driven by the growth in strategic focus areas such as IT outsourcing and systems integration.

While growth was slow in the first half of the year for the company's technology business, it had a strong third quarter, with $119 million in sales, up 66 percent year over year. Coleman highlighted a doubling in revenues over the year before for the company's ClearPath enterprise software and services.

"We've made great progress over the last few years in stabilizing our ClearPath business while investing in ... our flagship server line," Coleman said during the earnings call.

In addition to investing in ClearPath, Coleman said that Unisys has "laid the foundation for growth" with Forward, the company's secure fabric-based infrastructure, and Stealth, the company's security software. While they have seen longer sales cycles than originally anticipated, Coleman said that Unisys has seen adoption accelerate in the last quarter, with 30 customers in total across government, financial and critical infrastructure providers.

PUBLISHED OCT. 21, 2014