American Science & Engineering [ASEI]
4Q15 4Q14 FY15 FY14
Sales $31.2M $65.6M $126.8 $190.2
Net Inc. $877K, 0.13 $4.0M, 0.50 $979K, 0.18 $15.1M, $1.91
Sales fell 52% on a drop in large cargo revenue, which benefited a year ago from completion of a project completion, and lower mobile cargo revenue, despite increase revenue from field service. Net income tumbled on the lower revenue and higher research and development, and selling, general and administrative costs as a percent of sales. Despite the disappointing sales, Chuck Dougherty, AS&E’s president and CEO, says the company’s pipeline of opportunities is unchanged, adding that “with large cargo projects, it is important to note that none of the projects that we have been pursuing were awarded during FY ’15” and that “All major cargo projects are still in play.” The reasons for the delays continue to be the same, he says, including administration changes, political unrest and construction delays, “especially in the Middle East.” There has also been an increase in activity for new tenders, he says. Stabilizing governments in Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia and expectations for improved U.S. government activity in the coming year brighten the outlook, he says. There is also increased activity around the company’s best selling Z Backscatter Van (ZBV), he says. For the year, international customers represented 59 percent of sales. Orders in the quarter were $31.3 million and for the year $88.9 million and backlog at the end of the year stood at $138.3 million, down 21% from a year ago. Dougherty noted an interesting win for the company, its first managed services contract, in this case to operate it’s and third party scanning systems at a military base in the Middle East. He says the contract is small but allows the company to “cut its teeth” in this area. The company is also pursuing active opportunities for the leasing and rental of its equipment for special events, which Dougherty says fits with its public safety channel strategy.
Implant Sciences [IMSC]
3Q15 3Q14
Sales $3.3M $2.7M
Net Inc. ($5.7M, 0.08) ($4.9M, 0.08)
Sales increased 22% due to a huge increase in shipments of QS-B220 desktop explosive trace detectors to air cargo screening customers in Europe, Latin America, and the U.S. The increase in benchtop ETD sales was partially offset by a decline in handheld QS-H150 ETD sales. The company attributes growing sales of the desktop system to the Transportation Security Administration’s acceptance on the air cargo screening list and qualified product list for passenger and checked baggage screening, and the European Civil Aviation Conference’s approval for airport checkpoint and checked baggage screening. Losses widened due to higher operating costs, including selling, general and administrative expenses—primarily higher stock-based compensation—and research and development, and interest expense. Bill McGann, Implant’s …says the company has won 60% of the tenders it has bid on so far in Europe, a rate he doesn’t believe is sustainable given the competitive nature of the markets. The wins, he tells investors in during the third quarter conference call, are due to detection performance and “extremely low false alarm rate in our field operations.” These alarm rates “are probably as close to 0% as the average person would care to think about,” he says. He also says the company hasn’t yet begun to ship on its order of more than 1,100 QS-B220s to TSA, although deliveries are slated to begin in the next few weeks and be completed within 10 months. Recent improvements to the system, which were made while the TSA award was protested by a losing bidder, will improve the margins on the product, he adds.