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Wednesday November 26, 10:14 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Eshed Robotec (1982) Limited
Eshed Robotec (1982) Limited Reports Third Quarter Earnings and Other Developments
TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Eshed Robotec (1982) Limited (Nasdaq: ROBOF - news) today announced its operating results for the third quarter
of 1997.
In the third quarter of 1997 the Company recorded a net loss of US$ 84,000 (US$ 0.01 per share) on revenues of approximately US$ 3.4 million, as compared
with a net income of US$ 0.21 million (US$ 0.02 per share) on revenues of approximately US$ 4.8 million in the third quarter of 1996.
In the third quarter of 1997 robotics product sales decreased by 18% to US$ 2.0 million as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1996, and without change
when compared with robotics sales in the first and second quarters of 1997. In the third quarter of 1997, sales within the Ministry of Education tender decreased by
55% to US$ 0.8 million as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1996 as a result of delays in the release of 1997/98 Ministry of Education tender budgets
that were released towards the end of November 1997, in contrast to the 1996/97 budgets that were released in May 1996. As a result, overall sales volume in the
third quarter of 1997 decreased by approximately 31% to US$ 3.4 million.
As a result, Eshed Robotec reported a decrease in its operating income which amounted to US$ 52,000 as compared with an operating income of US$ 280,000 in
the corresponding quarter of 1996. However this is the fifth consecutive quarter in which the Company reports a positive operating income.
The turmoil in the world financial markets throughout the third quarter of 1997, with rapid changes in the strength of the US Dollar against European currencies as
well as the New Israeli Shekel, reduced profitability in the third quarter of 1997 by US$ 157,000 resulting in a loss for the quarter of US$ 84,000.
During August 1997 the Company's subsidiary Robotec Technologies Ltd, signed a contract totaling US$ 2.8 million to computerize a system of religious schools, in
a format similar to the Ministry of Education project. Shipments for this order will begin in the fourth quarter of 1997 and are expected to be completed in the
second quarter of 1998. The gross profit percentage of this order is similar to the gross profit percentage of the Ministry of Education project (9%).
At the same time two major projects in which the Company is involved came into focus:
1. As reported previously in September, following two weeks of technical
feasibility tests in the facilities of Yaskawa Electric Co of Japan
(hereinafter "Yaskawa"), Yaskawa approved the new concept technology
(hereinafter "NCT") motion control technology developed by the joint
company which had been formed by Eshed Robotec and Yaskawa. Upon the
conclusion of the feasibility tests, Yaskawa approved the technology.
The joint company partners agreed on the products, whose
specifications are in final definition stages, to be developed and
manufactured by YET. Production of these products is expected to
start in the fourth quarter of 1998, at the Company's new facility in
Rosh Ha'Ayin, slightly behind the original time table.
2. A 50% owned subsidiary signed a co-operation agreement in June 1997
with ST Computers of Singapore (hereinafter "STC"), according to which
it will be the sole software supplier in a project for the
computerization of the Singapore Educational system. As an initial
stage before issuing the tender, the government of Singapore chose
three companies to supply pilot projects to prove the quality of the
solution suggested by them. STC is one of the companies chosen to
supply the pilot projects. During 1997 the subsidiary was engaged in
preparations for the pilot project, including adjusting the software
to Singapore's culture and establishing a fully owned subsidiary named
EDUSOL. STC and EDUSOL started two pilot projects in Singapore
schools during the last week of November 1997.
The choice of STC as a vendor of a pilot project does not assure its winning the tender when it will be published.
Rafael Aravot, Eshed's Managing Director, remarked ''after we reviewed the new 1997/98 Ministry of Education project budgets that are similar in volume to the
1996/97 budgets, and in light of the high satisfaction rating we received from our customers, we are confident that our overall sales in this segment of our business
will behave positively in the next quarters. We believe that their satisfaction with our activity in this segment was one of the reasons we received the new US$ 2.8
Million order.''
Eshed Robotec is one of the world leaders in the field of technological education serving technical schools, universities and industry. The Company designs,
manufactures, markets and supports a complete range of solutions in the field of Automated Manufacturing Technology (AMT). These products include software
and hardware for courses in robotics, Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), vision systems and other subjects. The Company has also developed and markets
a small industrial robot through a joint venture with Yaskawa. Eshed's products are marketed through more than 50 distributors in 45 countries worldwide.
To the extent that this press release discusses expectations about market conditions or about market acceptance and future sales of the Company's products, or
otherwise makes statements a about the future, such statements are forward-looking and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause results to
differ materially from the statements made. These factors include the rapidly changing technology and evolving standards in the industries in which the Company
operates, risks associated with the acceptance of new products by individual customers and by the market place and other factors discussed in the business
description and management discussion and analysis sections of the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F.
ESHED ROBOTEC (1982) LIMITED
Sept 30, 1997 Sept 30, 1996 Dec 31, 1996
US$ (K) US$ (K) US$ (K)
(Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Audited)
Assets
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents 1,369 647 957
Short term investments 929 638 660
Customers 5,471 5,952 6,898
Receivables and debit balances 935 894 771
Inventories 2,640 2,777 2,515
11,344 10,908 11,801
Long term loans, investments
and receivables
Loans and investments 389 1,130 335
Customers 544 475 486
Fixed assets, net 5,761 3,744 3,833
Other assets 161 250 241
18,199 16,507 16,699
Liabilities and Capital
Current liabilities 8,394 6,782 7,208
Long term bank loans 371 10 213
Liability for termination of
employee/employer relationship 1,022 1,037 990
Shareholders equity 8,413 8,678 8,288
18,200 16,507 16,699
ESHED ROBOTEC (1982) LIMITED
Summarized Consolidated Statement of Income
(Consolidated Translation into US$)
Nine Nine Three Three
months months months months Year
ended ended ended ended ended
Sept 30 Sept 30 Sept 30 Sept 30 Dec 31
1997 1996 1997 1996 1996
US$ (K) US$ (K) US$ (K) US$ (K) NIS (K)
(Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Audited)
Sales, net 12,533 12,910 3,389 4,779 17,786
Cost of sales 8,436 8,972 2,018 2,941 12,564
Gross profit 4,097 3,938 1,371 1,838 5,222
Research and
development net
costs 862 922 285 283 1,143
Marketing and
selling expenses 2,208 2,454 740 793 3,199
Administrative and
general expenses 952 1,149 294 482 1,522
4,055 4,525 1,319 1,558 5,864
Operating income
(loss) 75 (587) 52 280 (642)
Financial expenses (109) (134) (157) (43) (87)
Other income
(expenses) 216 (43) 19 (38) 15
Income (loss)
before taxes 182 (764) (86) 199 (714)
Taxes on income (45) (35) 2 17 (24)
Income (loss) before
extraordinary items 137 (799) (84) 216 (738)
Extraordinary item -- -- -- -- (741)
Net income (loss) 137 (799) (84) 216 (1,479)
Net income (loss)
before extraordinary
item per share 0.01 (0.08) (0.01) 0.02 (0.07)
Net (loss) per share 0.01 (0.08) (0.01) 0.02 (0.14)
Weighted average
no. of paid up
shares in the
calculation of
net (loss)
per share 10,665,020 10,119,152 10,819,152 10,119,152 10,119,152
Remarks:
1. The financial statements at September 30, 1997 have been translated
into US dollars solely for the convenience of the reader. This
translation was made at the US dollar to the New Israeli Shekel
exchange rate of US$ 1 = NIS 3.4970 in effect on September 30, 1997.
2. The net earnings (loss) per share for the reported periods in these
reports has been calculated in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles in Israel and USA.
SOURCE: Eshed Robotec (1982) Limited
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