Cisco Systems has reported an 18% fall in quarterly revenue as customers held back spending on network equipment, but the decline was mostly in line with Wall Street forecasts and its profit was better than expected.
Chief executive John Chambers also said the company saw 'a number of positive signs' in its fourth financial quarter compared with the previous three months.
'If we continue to see these positive order trends for the next one to two quarters, we believe there is a good chance we will look back and see that the tipping point occurred in our business in Q4,' he said in a statement.
Revenue in the quarter which ended on July 25 fell to $8.5 billion from $10.4 billion in the same period a year earlier. That was in line with Wall Street's average forecast.
Quarterly net profit fell to $1.1 billion, or 19 cents a share, from $2 billion, or 33 cents a share, a year ago. Earnings excluding once-off items were 31 cents.
