Jason J. Winkler
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Motorola Solutions
Thank you, Greg. Revenue for the quarter grew 10% and was above our guidance with strong growth in all three technologies. GAAP operating earnings were $519 million or 21.7% of sales, up from 18.4% in the year ago quarter. Non-GAAP operating earnings were $638 million, up 20% from the year ago quarter and non-GAAP operating margin was 26.7%, up 220 basis points. The strong year-over-year increase in both GAAP and non-GAAP operating earnings was driven by higher sales a favorable mix shift as our customers invest in more feature-rich LMR products and improved operating leverage, offset by the UK CMA charge control related to Airwave.
GAAP earnings per share was a loss of $0.23 and included a $585 million charge, resulting in a $3.42 per share pre-tax non-operating loss due to the accounting treatment for the settlement of the Silver Lake convertible notes. We settled these notes entirely in cash for approximately $1.59 billion inclusive of the conversion premium, which eliminated potential dilution to our share count and reflected a favorable negotiated settlement price compared to the indenture terms.
As a result, we recognized a non-operating loss for the settlement during the quarter. According to the current accounting rules for convertible notes, which were updated in 2022. Non-GAAP EPS was $2.81, up 27% from $2.22 last year. This strong growth in EPS was driven by higher sales and margins, lower interest cost and a lower diluted share count. Opex in Q1 was $568 million, up $38 million versus last year, primarily due to higher employee incentives and acquisitions.
Turning to cash flow. Operating cash flow was a Q1 record of $382 million, up $390 million versus last year, and free cash flow was $336 million, up $398 million. The strong increase in cash flow was driven by improved working capital and higher earnings net of non-cash charges. Capital allocation for Q1 included $163 million in cash dividends $46 million of capex and $39 million of share repurchases.
We also used $593 million of cash to settle the Silver Lake conversion premium and we closed the acquisition of Silent Sentinel, a provider of specialized long-range cameras for $37 million net of cash required. Moving to segment results. In Products and SI, sales were up 14% versus last year, driven by continued strong demand, combined with improved supply availability and a favorable mix shift in LMR products. Operating earnings were $370 million or 24.8% of sales, up from 18.9% in the prior year, driven by higher sales, favorable mix and improved operating leverage.
Some notable Q1 wins and achievements in this segment include a $22 million P25 device order for a large US customer, a $16 million LMR order for an international customer, a $13 million order for the State of Tennessee and a $13 million mobile video order for North Carolina State Highway Patrol. In Software and Services, revenue was up 4% compared to last year.
S&S revenues, excluding the UK Home Office were up 12%, driven by strong growth in all three technologies. Operating earnings in the segment were $268 million, or 29.8% of sales down from the 32.9% of sales last year due to the impact of the Airwave charge control. Excluding the impact of the UK Airwave charge control, Software and Services margins increased year-over-year, driven primarily by higher sales and improved operating leverage.
Some notable Q1 highlights in this segment include a $25 million LMR services order for Douglas County, Colorado, a $25 million LMR services order for UK Department of Health, an $18 million Command Center order for the city of San Francisco, a $14 million LMR services order for Lithuania and an $11 million services order for Sao Paulo State Police in Brazil.
Moving next to our regional results. North America Q1 revenue was $1.7 billion, up 13% on strong double-digit growth in both segments. International Q1 revenue was $696 million, up 3% versus last year with growth in video and LMR, offset by lower UK Home Office revenues related to the UK Home Office Airwave charge control and our exit of ESN. International revenue, excluding the UK Home Office impact increased double digits year-over-year in both segments.
Moving to backlog. Ending backlog was a record $14.4 billion, up $331 million versus last year, driven primarily by strong demand for multiyear Software and Services contracts in both regions. The year-over-year increase is inclusive of the reduction of $777 million booked in the fourth quarter of 2023 related to the Airwave charge control and revenue recognition for Airwave and ESN over the last year.
Additionally, in the first quarter of 2024, we recorded a $748 million of backlog related to the receipt of a three-year extension notice from the UK Home Office for years 2027 through 2029. Our total backlog, excluding the UK Home Office was up over $500 million compared to last year. Sequentially, backlog was up $138 million, driven by the extension notice related to Airwave that I just mentioned, partially offset by our typical Q4 to Q1 order seasonality in North America and some favorable -- unfavorable FX.
In the Products and SI segment, ending backlog was down $74 million, primarily due to unfavorable FX. Sequentially, backlog was down $354 million due to the Q4 to Q1 North America order seasonality that I mentioned. And then Software and Services backlog was up $404 million compared to last year, driven by strong demand for multiyear services and services contracts in both regions.
Our S&S backlog, excluding the UK Home Office was up almost $600 million compared to last year. Sequentially, backlog was up $492 million, driven primarily by the extension notice related to Airwave, partially offset by Q4 to Q1 order seasonality. Turning to our outlook. We expect Q2 sales to be up between 7% and 8% with non-GAAP earnings per share between $2.97 and $3.02 per share. This assumes a weighted average diluted share count of approximately 170 million shares and an effective tax rate of approximately 24%. And for the full year, we are increasing both our revenue and EPS guidance.
We now expect revenue growth of approximately 7%, up from our prior guidance of approximately 6%. And with that, we expect non-GAAP earnings per share between $12.98 and $13.08 per share, up from our prior guidance of $12.62 to $12.72 per share. In addition, with the US dollar strengthening since our last call, this full year outlook now assumes an FX headwind of $30 million, primarily in the second half. It also includes a weighted average diluted share count between 170 million and 171 million shares and an effective tax rate of 23% to 24%.
And finally, as a result of the debt issuance and Silver Lake settlement we completed in Q1 and we now expect full year interest expense to be approximately $240 million, up $25 million year-over-year. Before turning the call back to Greg, I want to highlight, just a couple of balance sheet-related items. During the quarter, we used $593 million to settle in cash the premium for the Silver Lake notes that I mentioned. We also repurchased 39 million of shares, resulting together in a combined total of $632 million targeted at reducing our diluted share count.
Also during the quarter, both S&P and Fitch upgraded our credit ratings to BBB underlying the strength of our business and the balance sheet. Following the upgrades, we issued $1.3 billion of debt, $900 million of 10-year and $400 million of five-year notes, further extending our average debt maturity, which is now over eight years, all fixed at an average rate below 4.5%. We used a portion of the proceeds from the new debt issuance to pay off the $1 billion convertible notes and plan to use the remainder to settle the approximately $300 million of debt maturity coming due later this year.
I'll now turn the call back to Greg.