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LONDON (Alliance News) - BATM Advanced Communications PLC Tuesday reported a narrower loss for 2014 as lower write-offs helped offset a slight drop in revenue, but earnings were still impacted by a USD1.6 million inventory write-off and as foreign exchange rate movements weighed on revenue from its medical unit in the second half of the year.
The provider of real-time technologies for the networked telecoms and medical laboratory equipment markets reported a net loss of USD3.2 million for 2014, compared with a loss of USD4.5 million in 2013 when it had booked a writeoff of USD2.5 million for its Vigilant telecom unit.
Still, its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell to USD0.9 million, from USD2.1 million in 2013, as revenue dropped to USD109.2 million from USD114.2 million.
The company's medical division is now its biggest, with revenue rising to USD58.8 million in 2014 from USD53.1 million in 2013. The unit's operating loss narrowed to USD1.5 million, from USD2.3 million despite a slight decline in gross margin to 23% from 24%. The foreign exchange hit in the second half of the year mainly came from the depreciation of the Moldavian lei - a significant territory for its distribution unit - and Euro against the US Dollar.
Revenue in the telecom division it is restructuring fell to USD50.4 million, from USD61.1 million in 2013, and operating profit declined to USD0.5 million from USD2.4 million. The USD1.6 million writeoff it booked in 2014 was a dead stock inventory write off mostly related to legacy products.
"The Medical division is now the dominant business whilst the Telecom division has stabilised and is recovering well. The underlying fundamentals of the businesses are sound and, were it not for the foreign exchange impact in reporting the results and the one-time write-off of the legacy business inventory, the numbers would have reflected the progress achieved in the year," BATM Chief Executive Zvi Marom said.
The CEO said the company is confident of achieving improved results in 2015.
"Looking ahead, we believe that the momentum of the fourth quarter will continue into 2015, particularly in the Medical division. We expect the Medical division to achieve another year of solid growth with a greater number of products being delivered to more territories and increased cooperation with major industry players. In the Telecom division, we expect to start benefitting from contracts awarded in the second half of 2014," he said.
The company ended 2014 with cash, cash equivalents and financial assets of USD34.9 million, down from USD36.1 million at the end of June and USD40.8 million at the end of 2013.
BATM Advanced shares were down 1.7% at 14.25 pence in London Tuesday morning.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1
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