Harmonic continues to grow thanks to new forms of broadcast

Harmonic closes the first quarter with a significant weight in the broadcast area, conditioned by new forms of distribution. However, the slowdown in Europe is taking its toll.

Harmonic This week it presented its results for the first quarter, showing the good moment that the company is experiencing thanks to its commitment to the broadcast market.

Patrick Harshman, president and CEO, assured this week before financial analysts on Wall Street that "companies that produce and create content are in a stronger position every day. These companies will distribute more content every day not only to aggregators, but also directly to consumers. And here Harmonic will have a lot to say."

"We want to do business with everyone who is someone in content distribution, whether direct-to-home satellite, IPTV and large cable operators. Without forgetting our growing presence in traditional bropadcaster like Turner or BBC," said Harshman.

In the last 12 months, the cable business has represented 46 percent of Harmonic's business, compared to 22% in satellite and telco, and 23% in broadcast and media. This last area grew by 17% compared to the previous year.

"Actually, it was the main driver of our growth last year. What's more, even so, we believe that we have not fully taken advantage of it...", said Harshman.

Net income for the first quarter was $127.7 million compared to $132.8 million for the same period in 2011. In large part, this would be due to the slowdown in the market in Europe, a region in which Harmonic concentrates 25 percent of its activity.

"We have clearly noticed a slowdown in demand in Europe. Last year was a record year for us in Europe, mainly in the last quarter which was really record. However, we experienced a strong slowdown in demand in this first quarter of 2012. I do not think it is due to a loss of market share since our competition is in the same situation," acknowledged Harshman.