Shares in Johnson Controls International PLC (JCI) fell sharply on Tuesday, as the building technology and software provider posted worse-than-expected results due to a drop in global sales and the fallout from a cyber attack in September.
The company reported fourth-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05, which included a 4-cent “headwind from the cyber incident”. Revenue rose 2.7% to $6.91 billion.1 Both were below forecasts.
Global Products sales were down 2%, hurt by falling demand in the residential sector. For Johnson Controls’ Building Solutions segments, sales were down 7% in Asia Pacific as the installation business was impacted by weakness in the Chinese market. Building Solutions sales increased 8% in North America and 7% in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.1
The company announced last month that it would delay the release of its fourth-quarter report due to the cyber breach, which was first discovered on 23 September. In a regulatory filing, it said the incident “caused disruptions to portions of the company’s systems that support or provide data used in financial reporting” and that the problems required significant time and attention to resolve.2
Johnson Controls on Tuesday forecast 2024 earnings per share in the range of about $3.65 to $3.80, while analysts expected $3.96.
The stock fell 6% to close at $53.19 on Tuesday. The stock is down 18% for the year.
