Commenting on its stirring figures (page seven) Motorola Inc says that net margin on sales was 6.7% in the second quarter, compared with 5.7% a year ago; sales in the General Systems segment advanced 75% to $2,100m with orders up 46% and operating profits higher; worldwide cellular orders grew rapidly for both infrastructure and subscriber equipment; sales in the Semiconductor Products Sector rose 23% to $1,700m, orders rose 17% and operating profits were higher; in the Communications Segment – Land Mobile Products Sector and the Paging Products and Wireless Data Groups, sales rose 26% to $1,400m; orders rose 28% and operating profits were higher; the one black spot was the Information Systems Group, where sales declined 11%, orders were 3% lower, and an operating loss was incurred against a profit a year ago – all of which suggests yet again that this is a business the company does not need to be in and should sell; it said its US markets are doing very well, although increases in interest rates could moderate growth later in the year.
