Financial highlights for the first quarter of 2009 compared to the first quarter of 2008 incorporate:
Gross profit increased by $2.4 million or 38.1% from $6.3 million to $8.7 million;
Gross profit as a percentage of sales increased to 21.9% from 13.4%;
Operating income increased $1.5 million to $0.8 million from an operating loss of ($0.7 million) in the first quarter of 2008;
Backlog as of March 31, 2009 was $63.2 million compared to $68.0 million as of December 31, 2008.
Richard Blum, president and chief operating officer, said, We are especially pleased with the results for our first quarter of 2009. The first quarter is typically our weakest quarter due to the seasonality of our business. Of interest is the fact that over 18 percent of our backlog, and over 18% of our bookings, as of the end of the first quarter were from customers outside the US. We did business with customers in 16 different countries in the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter, the five largest components of our backlog were the power, refining, chemical, ethanol, and steel industries.
Phillip DeZwirek, chairman and chief executive officer, said, Although our revenues for the quarter were lower compared to 2008 it is important to note that our gross profit and operating income are significantly higher in the current quarter. Our recent series of acquisitions has resulted in an expansion of our equipment group which is typically higher margin business and we expect this trend to continue. The higher selling and administrative costs in this quarter are due to three new acquisitions not fully reflected in the comparative quarter. The higher income is also the result of our aggressive cost cutting program to reduce overhead costs in line with volume and to continue integration of our acquisitions to eliminate duplication and one time charges. We anticipate that the full effect of this cost cutting will be reflected in our fourth quarter.
