Thursday April 23, 9:01 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: ABAXIS, Inc.
Abaxis Reports Fourth Quarter And Record Year-End Results
Full-year Revenue Increased by 67% to $12.2 Million
Full-year Reagent Disc Shipments Increased by 108% Full-year Instrument Shipments Increased by 54% Full-year Net Loss Reduced by 30%
SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- ABAXIS, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABAX - news), a medical products company manufacturing point-of-care blood analysis systems, today reported results for the fourth fiscal quarter and for its 1998 fiscal year ended March 31, 1998.
For the fourth fiscal quarter, revenues increased 31% to $3,116,000, compared with revenues of $2,379,000 for the same quarter last year. The company reported a net loss of $948,000, a 21% reduction compared to a net loss of $1,196,000 for the same quarter last year. Net loss per share for the quarter was $0.08 on approximately 11,968,000 shares. Net loss per share for the same quarter last year was $0.10 per share on approximately 11,875,000 shares. The increased number of shares was primarily due to an equity financing which concluded in July 1997.
For the 1998 fiscal year, revenues increased 67% to $12,187,000, compared with revenues of $7,294,000 for the 1997 fiscal year. The Company reported a net loss of $4,353,000 or $0.44 per share for fiscal 1998, compared with a net loss of $6,189,000, or $0.72 per share, for the prior year. Revenues from instrument sales accounted for 61% of total revenues while revenues from reagent discs accounted for 36%. During fiscal 1998, the Company shipped 1,086 instruments, a 54% increase compared to prior year shipments of 703 instruments. A total of 468,545 reagent discs were shipped during fiscal 1998, an increase of 108% compared to fiscal 1997 shipments of 225,250 reagent discs. Approximately 79% of the total revenues in fiscal 1998 were derived from the veterinary market worldwide.
For the year ended March 31, 1998, the Company reported gross profit percentage of 14%, compared to a gross loss of 5% of fiscal 1997 revenue. Operating expenses decreased to 52% of net revenues in fiscal 1998 from 85% of net revenues in fiscal 1997. Both of these operational improvements were major contributing factors to the reduction in net loss to $4,353,000 or 36% of net revenues in fiscal 1998, from the fiscal 1997 net loss of $6,189,000, or 85% of net revenues.
Clint Severson, president and chief executive officer of ABAXIS, commented, ''We made major progress in many areas during this fiscal year. At the beginning of the year, we vowed to increase our sales and reduce our losses every quarter. I am very proud to say that we have delivered just that. We have demonstrated market acceptance of our products. We have proven that our strategy of focusing on those market segments where our current products offer significant improvement over currently available testing products has brought growth to our top line. In fiscal 1998, reagent disc sales volume more than doubled and we were able to continue to manufacture quality products by increasing our capacity and improving manufacturing efficiency, which resulted in reduced unit manufacturing costs and improved gross margin. The manufacturing cost reduction, along with a number of effective cost control measures implemented during the year, brought significant improvement to our bottom line.
''Looking ahead into fiscal 1999,'' Mr. Severson continued, ''our focus will be on expanding menu and product offering, continued manufacturing cost reduction and maintaining our marketing strategy. While we believe there is strong demand in our existing markets for our current products, we also believe that additional menu and product offerings can strengthen our market presence and afford us opportunities to penetrate into new markets. We are currently developing four electrolyte methods and we plan on beginning clinical trials for these methods before the end of the first fiscal 1999 quarter. If everything goes according to plan, our target release date for the first electrolyte product dedicated for the veterinary market will be during the third fiscal quarter in 1999, with the medical product to follow. Operationally, we are faced with the challenge of meeting growing customer demands and optimizing our manufacturing processes to provide quality products at reduced costs and improved margin. We plan on having the new fully automated disc assembly line delivered to our facility by the end of the first quarter of fiscal 1999 and beginning our qualification and validation work. We expect this line to be fully operational in spring 1999. In the meantime, we have formulated plans to meet our anticipated demands from our current production line. We firmly believe that accomplishment of these goals should further solidify the Company's fundamentals and help us move toward profitability.''
Founded in 1989, ABAXIS develops, manufactures and markets portable blood analysis systems for use in any patient-care setting to provide clinicians with rapid blood constituent measurements. The system consists of a compact, 6.9 kilogram, portable analyzer and a series of 8 cm diameter single-use plastic disks, called reagent discs, that contain all the reagents necessary to perform a fixed menu of tests. The system can be operated with minimal training and perform multiple tests on whole blood using either venous or fingerstick samples. The system provides test results in less than 14 minutes with the precision and accuracy equivalent to a clinical laboratory.
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The future events described in such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to the market acceptance of the Company's products and the continuing development of its products, risks associated with manufacturing and distributing its products on a commercial scale, general market conditions, competition, risks and uncertainties related to its ability to raise capital in order to fund its operations and other risks detailed from time to time in ABAXIS' periodic reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
Abaxis, Inc.
Summary Financial Information
(in thousands, except per share data)
Three Months Ended Year Ended
March 31, March 31,
1998 1997 1998 1997
Statements of Operations Data:
Net revenues $3,116 $2,379 $ 12,187 $7,294
Costs and operating expenses:
Cost of product sales 2,400 2,190 10,461 7,661
Research and development 464 279 1,635 1,315
Selling, general and
administrative 1,263 1,189 4,740 4,867
Total costs and operating
expenses 4,127 3,658 16,836 13,843
Loss from operations (1,011) (1,279) (4,649) (6,549)
Other income, net 63 83 296 360
Net loss $(948) $(1,196) $(4,353) $(6,189)
Net loss per share applicable
to common stock $(0.08) $(0.10) $(0.44) $(0.72)
Shares used in calculating
net loss per share 11,968 11,875 11,920 10,503
(a) Loss attributable to common shareholders used in the computation of loss per share for the three and twelve months ended March 31, 1998 was $994,000 and $5,233,000, respectively. Loss attributable to common shareholders used in the computation of loss per share for the three and twelve months ended March 31, 1997 was $1,196,000 and $7,595,000, respectively.
Balance Sheet Data:
March 31, March 31,
1998 1997
Cash, cash equivalents and
short-term investments $5,897 $5,321
Total current assets 9,638 9,444
Property, plant and equipment, net 2,309 2,453
Other non-current assets 85 80
Total assets $ 12,032 $ 11,977
Current liabilities $3,886 $2,619
Long term liabilities 263 --
Total shareholders' equity 7,883 9,358
Total liabilities and
shareholders' equity $ 12,032 $ 11,977 |
