Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking, said on Tuesday that its net sales for the first six months of fiscal 2007, which ended on Jan. 27, were 16.6 billion dollars, compared with 13.2 billion for the same period in fiscal 2006.

Cash flows from operations were 2.7 billion dollars for the second quarter of fiscal 2007, compared with 1.9 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2006, and 2.3 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2007, the network giant said in a statement e-mailed to Xinhua.

Cash and cash equivalents and investments were 20.7 billion dollars at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2007, compared with 17.8 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006, and compared with 19.5 billion at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2007, said the statement.

During the second quarter of fiscal 2007, Cisco repurchased 121 million shares of common stock at an average price of 27.01 dollars per share for an aggregate purchase price of 3.3 billion dollars.

As of Jan. 27, 2007, Cisco had repurchased and retired 2.1 billion shares of Cisco common stock at an average price of 19.00 dollars per share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately 40.2 billion dollars since the inception of the stock repurchase program.

"Cisco achieved record results that were well balanced across our geographies, products, services, customer segments and new markets," said John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco.

"This illustrates our key competitive advantage of being able to develop a long-term vision, execute on our strategy and deliver consistent results."

He said it is this unique ability to balance between strategy and innovation that has positioned Cisco to take advantage of key emerging business and IT trends such as the rise of video on the network.

"As the network becomes the platform, we are seeing more and more signs that all forms of IT and communication are moving into the network and increasing the total available market to Cisco," he said.

Dennis Powell, chief financial officer of Cisco, said, "We are very pleased with our overall performance and balance for the second quarter of the fiscal year."

Cisco demonstrated continued strength of both our Cisco standalone business, with 18 percent revenue growth year over year, and its Scientific Atlanta business, with 21 percent growth year-on-year, which exceeded the expectations for combined revenue, operating income and earnings per share, he said.

As the worldwide leader in networking, Cisco transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate.

Source: Xinhua