DeWITT — Anaren, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANEN) has continued cutting jobs in the face of declining profits and sales. The DeWitt–based company began eliminating jobs last July and has so far reduced its work force of 1,000 employees by 19 percent, CFO George Blanton said during an April 25 conference call to discuss Anaren’s latest quarterly […]
DeWITT — Anaren, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANEN) has continued cutting jobs in the face of declining profits and sales.
The DeWitt–based company began eliminating jobs last July and has so far reduced its work force of 1,000 employees by 19 percent, CFO George Blanton said during an April 25 conference call to discuss Anaren’s latest quarterly results.
The moves resulted in personnel savings of $6.6 million, Blanton said. The company also took other steps to cut costs during its most recent quarter that will bring total cost savings to $11 million annually.
Total operating expenses for the quarter ending March 31 fell to $9.9 million from $11.8 million in the same period last year. Through the first nine months of Anaren’s fiscal year, ending March 31, operating expenses totaled $30.8 million, down from about $34 million in the year-earlier period.
Anaren, which has locations in the Syracuse area, New Hampshire, Colorado, and China, did not provide further details on the job cuts. The company develops and manufactures components and subsystems for applications in sectors including satellite communications, defense, and wireless communications.
Profit in Anaren’s fiscal third quarter, which ended March 31, totaled $2 million, or 14 cents a share, down more than 41 percent from the same period a year earlier. Net sales dropped more than 21 percent to $34.7 million.
A decline in demand for some of the company’s wireless products drove the sales dip, Anaren Chairman, President, and CEO Lawrence Sala said during the conference call. Sales in the firm’s wireless business totaled $10.2 million in the fiscal third quarter, down more than 32 percent from a year earlier.
Company leaders believe the dip in wireless sales is temporary. Customer forecasts are showing strength and wireless sales should increase during Anaren’s fiscal fourth quarter, Sala said.
Sales in the company’s space and defense business totaled $24.5 million for the quarter, down 15.1 percent. The dip resulted mainly from a decline of $2.8 million in sales related to Anaren’s work on a subsystem for a product developed by Cicero–based SRC, Inc. that disables improvised explosive devices (IED).
Some new radar-contracts customers should give Anaren a boost in the coming months, Sala said. The firm expects
$15 million to $17 million in new radar-related orders as a result, he said.
That should help total space and defense sales should recover in the company’s fourth quarter, he added.
Also, Anaren announced three contracts on April 9 totaling $11.5 million for subsystems used in airborne applications. The orders are part of a long-term supply agreement with a defense contractor for domestic and international applications of Anaren’s proprietary electronic warfare technology.
Deliveries will begin in the fiscal first quarter of 2013 and take place over 26 months, the company said.
For Anaren’s fiscal fourth quarter, ending June 30, net sales should reach $35 million to $40 million with earnings per share of 11 cents to 23 cents, Sala said.
