Perceptron, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRCP)

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2013 Results

• Sales were $20.7 million, up 62% from sales of $12.8 million in the same quarter 2012.
• Non-GAAP EPS was $0.34 vs. a loss of $0.16 for the same quarter 2012.

Harry Rittenour, President and Chief Executive Officer, added, "Fiscal 2013 was a very good year for the Company and its shareholders in a number of ways. From a financial perspective, our continuing business exceeded $60 million in sales for the first time, our gross margin improved, and our operating income improved both in total dollars and as a percent of sales. Our bookings were higher than our sales during fiscal 2013, positioning us to enter fiscal 2014 with a strong backlog. In addition, we paid a special dividend and our first annual dividend to shareholders which contributed to our total return to shareholders significantly exceeding the overall market return. We successfully sold CBU. Further, our strategy in holding our Primus preferred stock paid off in a full redemption of that investment.

"Operationally, we recently completed the release of all five standoffs in the Helix^® family of sensors. The release of the additional sensors will increase the opportunities and the scope of customer applications we can address using our Helix technology. Sales and bookings utilizing Helix technology in fiscal year 2013 met our expectations and are ramping-up well. In the fourth quarter, approximately 19% of our bookings and 11% of our sales were from projects utilizing Helix technology."

Business Outlook

Harry Rittenour commented, "We remain confident in our outlook for continued sales growth in fiscal 2014. Independent industry forecasts continue to show that worldwide automotive sales and new model introductions will continue to grow in each of the next two to three years. This provides us with a good environment in which to sell our products to automobile manufacturers around the world. Historically we have experienced volatility in our quarterly sales with the first quarter of the fiscal year generally being the softest. We anticipate that the first quarter will be our softest quarter in fiscal year 2014. We continue to expect our Helix technology to become a more significant portion of our product portfolio in fiscal year 2014 and provide us with more in-line dimensional gauging opportunities and capabilities than in the past. This should also help us to maintain, or improve, our gross profit margins. As a result, we anticipate another year of profitable growth for the Company."