Net sales for the three-month period ended December 31, 2008 totaled $27.4 million, compared to $28.9 million recorded in the same quarter last year. Net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 were $569,000, or $0.11 per diluted share. Net earnings for the same quarter last year were $1.1 million, or $0.20 per diluted share. Net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 were favorably affected by a $160,000 reduction in tax expense due to changes in tax law to retroactively renew the research and development tax credit that was enacted during the quarter.
Gross profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 was $11.3 million compared to $11.5 million in the corresponding period last year. As a percentage of sales, gross profit for the quarter was 41.3% compared to 39.6% in the first quarter of fiscal 2008.
Orders received during the first quarter of fiscal 2009 were $22.9 million, compared to $35.0 million in the same period last year. The Company's backlog at December 31, 2008 was $29.3 million, compared to a backlog of $36.8 million at the end of the same quarter last year.
Camp further commented, "During October, our customers delayed purchasing decisions as they assessed the impact of current economic conditions. We did, however, experience an improvement in orders throughout the remainder of the quarter and had strong orders in December. We do not want to minimize the decrease in total new orders for the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago, but we remain cautiously optimistic that the improvement in orders we saw in December will continue."
"We firmly believe that our fundamentals are sound and the products that we are bringing to our markets are exactly what our customers are looking for,"stated Camp. "Under current economic conditions, we anticipate our revenue for fiscal 2009 will be similar to or lower than our revenue recorded for fiscal 2008. We continue to focus on our commitment to invest strongly in R&D and to bring new products and solutions to our customers, which will position us well for the future."
