Emerson Electric's 4Q falls 26 percent

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Emerson Electric Co. said Tuesday its fiscal 2009 fourth-quarter profit fell 26 percent, but less than Wall Street expected, as the manufacturing and technology services provider struggled with in the weak economy.

The company also increased its dividend and forecast declining revenue for fiscal 2010

For the three months ended Sept. 30 profit fell to $506 million, or 67 cents per share, compared with $690 million, 88 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected, on average, earnings per share of 60 cents.

Sales fell 21 percent to $5.32 billion from $6.7 billion as revenue from all segments, from software to help run manufacturing plants, to tools, appliances and storage devices, declined. Analysts expected revenue of $5.3 billion.

For the full fiscal year, Emerson earned $1.72 billion, or $2.27 per share, on revenue of $20.92 billion compared with $2.41 billion, or $3.06 per share, on revenue of $24.81 billion.

During fiscal 2009 Emerson generated $2.6 billion of free cash flow, about the same as the previous year, cut inventory by some $500 million and completed $1 billion of strategic acquisitions.

Emerson forecast declining sales for the three months ending in December and the 12 months ending next September.

"The shape and speed of the recovery remains unknown and we expect weakness to continue in the near-term," CEO David N. Farr said in a statement.

In premarket trading, shares rose 55 cents to $38.70.