For fiscal 2012 (to end-March), Advanced Photonix Inc of Ann Arbor, MI, USA (which designs and makes silicon, InP- and GaAs-based APD, PIN, and FILTRODE photodetectors, HSOR high-speed optical receivers, and T-Ray terahertz instrumentation) has reported net sales of $29.5m, up 2% on $28.8m for fiscal 2011, driven by the telecom, homeland security and medical markets. However, for fiscal fourth-quarter 2012, net sales were $6.5m, flat on last quarter but down 17% on $7.8m a year ago.
Fiscal Q4/2011 Q1/2012 Q2/2012 Q3/2012 Q4/2012
Revenue $7.8m $8.1m $8.4m $6.5m $6.5m
“The two major natural disasters in Japan and Thailand had a significant effect on our results this last year, slowing our growth to 2%,” notes chairman & CEO Richard Kurtz. “The tsunami in Japan limited our supply from a key vendor which restricted our first-half growth on our 100G HSOR products,” he adds. “The flooding in Thailand did not impact our supply chain directly but did severely impact our customers, which resulted in a drop in our telecommunication revenues in the last half of fiscal 2012.”
For full-year fiscal 2012, operating expenses were $14.5m (49.2% of revenue), up from $13.2m (45.7% of revenue) in fiscal 2011. However, for Q4, operating expenses were just $3.2m, down from $3.6m last quarter and $3.7m a year ago.
Gross margin has fallen from 43.9% a year ago and 41.5% last quarter to 34.2% in Q4, due to lower volumes as well as price pressures in the high-speed optical receiver (HSOR) product line prior to cost-reduction efforts. Gross margin for full-year fiscal 2012 was 40%, down from 43% in fiscal 2011.
For Q4, adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and stock compensation) was negative $416,000, compared to +$236,000 last quarter and +$498,000 a year ago. For full-year fiscal 2012, adjusted EBITDA was $257,000, down from $2m for fiscal 2011. The firm finished the year with $3.2m in cash, down from $4.7m a year ago as it de-levered by paying down $1.4m in debt. Working capital as of end-March was $7.5m.
“We see increasing signs of significant pent up demand in the telecommunications market and increasing adoption of our T-Ray products that lead us to believe that revenues in the second half of our fiscal 2013 should be approximately 35% higher than the first half, assuming our supply chain can respond accordingly,” says Kurtz. “This coming year we look forward to a more normal business environment and continued growth.”
