Johnson Controls, a global provider of solutions for smart buildings, recorded revenues of $2.17 billion in its North America building solutions segment in fiscal Q1 2020, slightly up compared to revenues of $2.11 billion in the same period the previous year , according to the company’s earnings release.
The company highlighted that growth in this segment in North America was driven by strong growth in fire and security and, to a lesser extent, growth in HVAC and controls. “This was partially offset by a decline in Performance Solutions,” the company said.
“We expected to start the year off a bit slower in North America, but we are confident that orders will accelerate to mid single-digit range in Q2 given current pipeline activity. Backlog in North America remained strong at $5.8 billion, up 7% year-over-year,” the company’s CFO Brian Stief told a conference call with investors.
In EMEA and Latin America, the company recorded revenues of $928 million in fiscal Q1 2020, up 2% compared to the same period the previous year.
“Growth was particularly strong in Europe which increased low double-digits and in the Middle East,” Stief said.
“Asia-Pacific sales grew 3% organically led by higher demand for project installations, which grew 9% in the quarter. Fire and security, which represents about 30% of APAC sales, saw continued strength of low single-digits overall. HVAC and controls, which represents the remaining 70% of APAC sales, was relatively flat year-over-year,” the executive said.
“The environment in APAC remains competitive, and the economic conditions in some areas remain uncertain. We continue to experience macro-related headwinds in some of our key markets in Asia, including the ongoing trade dispute and now the coronavirus in China as well as the ongoing unrest in Hong Kong. That being said, we are seeing nice improvement in the underlying fundamentals in our APAC businesses, but we are monitoring the situations very closely,” Stief added.
At a global level, the company recorded revenues of $5.6 million in the first fiscal quarter, an increase of 2% year-on-year.
“Orders were flat in the quarter, but I am confident given the continued strength we see in our pipeline, we will see acceleration in Q2. Our primary end markets, commercial HVAC, building controls, fire and security remained healthy and we are well-positioned as leaders in each market,” the company’s chairman and CEO George Oliver said during the earnings conference call.
