American Bio Medica Continues to Post Dramatic Top- and Bottom-line
Growth in the First Half of Fiscal 2000
KINDERHOOK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 16, 1999--American Bio Medica Corp. (NASDAQ: ABMC - news) today announced its unaudited results for the three months ended October 31, 1999.
Sales for the second quarter fiscal 2000 were $2,122,000, representing a 19.7% increase from $1,773,000 in the same period last year. Operating expenses rose 8.6% on an actual basis to $1,119,000 in the second quarter fiscal 2000 while decreasing relative to sales by five percentage points over the same period last year. This was due in part to a 7.0% year-over-year reduction in selling, general and administrative costs relative to sales and an 8.5% decline in marketing and promotion costs as a percentage of sales during the same period.
Net income (loss) from operations amounted to $(30,000) for the three months ended October 31, 1999 as compared to $9,000 for the same period last year, due primarily to an increase in cost of goods sold resulting from the Company's sale of its book sales business and a loss on sales of marketable securities. The Company is reducing costs at its in-house production department by increasing in-house manufacturing of the Rapid Drug Screen(TM) drug test strips. ABMC is also implementing various cost reduction and production efficiency plans to improve gross profit margins throughout fiscal 2000.
In the first half of fiscal 2000, sales rose 37.9% to $4,249,000 from $3,081,000 in the comparable six months of last year. Operating expenses were $2,270,000 during the six months ended October 31, 1999, representing a 15.7 percentage point improvement relative to sales as compared to the first half of fiscal 1999. Selling, general and administrative costs decreased 1.4% on an actual basis to $1,957,000 for the first half of fiscal 2000 and fell 18.2% year-over-year relative to sales. Marketing and promotion costs were also reduced during this period by 79.1% on an actual basis and by 5.3 percentage points relative to sales. Net income (loss) from operations amounted to $(57,000) for the first half of fiscal 2000 versus $(268,000) for same period last year, due primarily to increased sales and a decrease in selling, general and administrative expenditures.
As of October 31, 1999, the Company had working capital of $2,247,000, total assets of $4,660,000, a current ratio of 2.3 to 1 and $2,913,000 in total stockholders' equity.
''The second quarter marked ABMC's move into its new headquarters in Kinderhook, where we are benefiting from a larger facility that supports our continued growth and current industry positioning as number three in on-site drug testing,'' stated Company Chairman and CEO Stan Cipkowski.
''Several other exciting developments occurred during the quarter,'' Cipkowski continued. ''This included the fact that we won the Friedenberg appeal, which reduced our litigation risk and positively
impacted our bottom line by confirming that we are not required to issue any additional shares. It also involved the Company filing its second patent infringement and trademark dilution lawsuit, thus
continuing our efforts to block copycat products that dilute our market share. We also experienced significant sales growth in various market segments in the second quarter, and reported particularly
notable increases in our strength within the educational sector.''
The Company gained a strong foothold in the educational market during the three months ended October 31, 1999 with its substance abuse test being used in nearly 100 schools across the country as part of drug prevention programs. ABMC also launched the first resource-based website (www.drugfreeschools.com) to assist schools in developing and implementing effective drug testing initiatives.
In a related announcement, ABMC reported that it will be holding a conference call with investors on Friday December 17, 1999 at 10:00 a.m. EST to discuss its second quarter fiscal 2000 results. The Company invites parties interested in participating in the conference to call 800-526-7151 by 9:45 a.m. EST this Friday.
Well...we're at ZERO...Black next quarter!
chris |
