Plantronics 1999 Annual Report Download - page 4

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Dear Fellow Stockholders,
Growing acceptance of headsets combined with our superior products and customer satisfaction to create
strong financial performance in fiscal 1999. Revenues increased 21% to $286 million, net income rose 41% to
$55 million, and earnings per share improved 33% to $3.02. Higher net income and improved working capital
management led to cash flow generation of $87 million, which was used to retire debt and repurchase shares.
At year end, our share price increased over 50% and our market capitalization reached $1.1 billion.
Our mission is to enhance personal communications.Keeping in touch with other people—communicating—
is one of the single most important things we do in work and life. Our headsets make communications easier
and provide people with greater freedom of movement and comfort while they are talking. In the office, people
can talk and still have their hands free to use a computer. In the car, people can have a conversation and
still have their hands free to drive more safely. There is nothing natural about having to hold a handset
every time you need to speak on the phone. Increasing headset adoption is our greatest opportunity, and
our vision is headsets for everyone.We would like to encourage all of our stockholders to try our headsets!
Our strategy is to use our expertise in headsets to continue to develop the best products and services for our
core markets in the call center, while leveraging this expertise to create products appealing to new users
in the office, mobile, computer, and residential market segments. In April of 1999, we announced the formation
of our Computer Audio Systems Division and our new family of headsets for speech recognition, broadening
our reach from voice to written communications and helping people create documents faster and more
TO STOCKHOLDERS
letter
95 96 9 7 98 99
236.1
286.3
195.3
183.0
169.9
287
246
205
1 6 4
1 2 3
82
41
0
95 96 9 7 98 99
17.5
19.5
14.5
13.7
11.6
20
16
12
8
4
0
95 96 9 7 98 99
62.4
83.5
50.3
47.5
43.1
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
sales
(DOLLARS IN MILLIONS)
investment in research
and development
(DOLLARS IN MILLIONS)
operating income
(DOLLARS IN MILLIONS)
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