Spire's revenue grows 9 percent YoY for first nine months

BEDFORD, USA: Spire Corp., a global solar company providing capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) modules, turnkey manufacturing lines and solar PV systems, reported revenues from continuing operations for the third-quarter ended September 30, 2009 of $16.5 million, as compared to $16.6 million for the same quarter of 2008.

Net loss for the third-quarter of 2009 was $3.5 million, or $(0.42) per share, compared with net income of $445,000, or $0.05 per share, for the third-quarter of 2008. These losses include losses of $1.2 million and $77,000, or $(0.15) and $(0.01) per share, for the third-quarter periods of 2009 and 2008, respectively, from the Company’s medical products business unit which has been classified as discontinued operations.

Revenues from continuing operations for the first nine months ended September 30, 2009 were $50.1 million, a 9 percent increase from $46.2 million for the same nine month period in 2008. Net loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2009 was $9.6 million, or $(1.15) per share, compared with a net loss of $347,000, or $(0.04) per share, for the same period in 2008.

These results include losses of $1.6 million and $358,000, or $(0.20) and $(0.04) per share, for the nine month periods ended September 30, 2009 and 2008, respectively, from the Company’s medical products business unit which has been classified as discontinued operations.

Net cash provided by operating activities of continuing operations was $429,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2009, compared to net cash provided by operating activities of $2.9 million for the same period in 2008. As of September 30, 2009, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $6.3 million of which $4.9 million is unrestricted.

Roger G. Little, Chairman and CEO, said: "We are encouraged in a tough market by a 3 percent growth in revenue of our solar products and services business on a year over year basis for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009, as this segment represented 82 percent of our total revenue.

"The Company delivered two module lines and several orders for capital equipment to its customers as they position for expected global expansion of PV.

“The Company also delivered solar cells to UNICOR, a wholly-owned government corporation, for the Spire-installed turnkey PV module factory as part of its ongoing commitment and partnership in support of the federal market. The Company was also awarded a new contract to expand their current 25 megawatt (MW) module manufacturing capacity by the addition of a 50MW module manufacturing line to be located in Sheridan, Oregon.”

Little added: “Spire Semiconductor revenues in the third quarter of 2009 decreased as compared to the same period last year. However, the Company achieved its first year milestone performance deliverable toward developing a 42 percent efficient concentrator solar cell under its National Renewable Energy Laboratory contract.

“Spire Biomedical processing services continues to maintain its strong performance as revenues increased 15 percent from a year ago. During the quarter, the Company entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement to sell its medical products business unit to Bard Access Systems, Inc. The sale is pending at this time.”