Johnson Controls says it expects to post record profits in fiscal 2015 with profitability improvements in all three of its business segments.
The company believes China is a growth opportunity across all of its businesses, representing more than $8 billion in annual revenues in fiscal 2014, including the company’s non-consolidated joint ventures. Johnson Controls said it will continue making significant investments in the Chinese market across all of its businesses and noted that construction has started for a new Asia Pacific headquarters building in Shanghai.
For its Building Efficiency segment, excluding Global Workplace Solutions (GWS), sales are expected to be up 9 to 11 percent with expectations of modest North America market growth and continued emerging market growth.
The company announced in October that it was divesting its GWS business.
Excluding the impact of the 2014 acquisition of Air Distribution Technologies (ADT), sales are expected to increase 2 to 4 percent. Segment margins are forecast to increase to 9.4 to 9.6 percent benefitting from operating model changes, pricing initiatives and improved profitability in the Middle East. GWS revenues are expected to be level with fiscal 2014, with margins expected to increase to 3.2 to 3.5 percent.
The company says that it expects the joint venture with Hitachi for variable refrigerant flow (VRF) technology and the divestiture of its GWS business will both be completed in fiscal 2015.