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Cubic Corp. Reports Record Sales and Backlog and Increased Earnings for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2003 SAN DIEGO, Feb 3, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- San Diego-based Cubic Corp. (AMEX: CUB) today reported record sales and backlog and an increase in earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2004, which ended December 31, 2003. Sales for the quarter were $171 million, compared to $148 million for the same period last year, an increase of 15 percent. Net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2004 increased 12 percent to 28 cents a share from 25 cents a share for the same quarter of the prior year. Total backlog increased to $1.554 billion at December 31, 2003, compared to $1.505 billion at September 30, 2003. Defense Defense segment sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2004 were up 27 percent to $104 million compared to $82 million for the same period last year. Approximately one-third of the increase came from ECC International Corp., which Cubic acquired in September 2003. The remainder of the sales increase came from all three of the existing defense business units: Communications and Electronics, Training Systems and Government Services. Operating profits in the defense segment were up more than 90 percent to $8.6 million this year compared to $4.5 million in the first quarter of last year. Higher operating income came primarily from the training systems business due to sales growth and improved profit margins from both air and ground combat training systems, including MILES. In addition, ECC contributed about $0.8 million to training systems operating profits for the quarter. Transportation Transportation segment sales increased slightly, from $62 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2003 to $63 million in the first quarter of this year. Sales from the PRESTIGE contract in London declined in accordance with the plan for this project, but this was more than offset by higher sales from other contracts in the UK, Australia and the U.S., including Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Houston and Minneapolis. Operating income in Transportation Systems decreased from $5.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2003 to $4.0 million this year. Profit margins on several of the contracts in North America have been adversely affected by the company`s investment in the development of new software technologies for common fare collection solutions. "We believe it was necessary to make this investment in new fare collection technologies to give us a competitive advantage in future system procurements," said Cubic Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Walter J. Zable, "but in the short run this has impacted the margins on our current contracts." In addition, operating income was impacted by legal fees of $1.2 million, which were incurred during the quarter in preparation for an arbitration hearing later this year. The arbitration concerns the cancellation of a subcontractor for failure to perform on the PRESTIGE contract. Cubic expects to recover a significant amount of the additional costs it has incurred because of the subcontractor`s failure to perform, including its legal costs. Backlog The increase in backlog to $1.554 billion at December 31, 2003, from $1.505 billion at September 30, 2003, was due in part to Transportation Systems` receipt of a $72 million contract from MARTA, the city of Atlanta`s transit agency. Included in these total backlog amounts was funded backlog of $1.076 billion at December 31, 2003, compared to $1.008 billion at September 30, 2003. The Cubic Defense Applications group provides realistic combat training systems for military forces as well as simulation, force modernization, educational services, operations & maintenance and manufacturing services. The group also supplies products and systems for C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance) applications, search and rescue avionics and radio communications for military and civil markets. Cubic Transportation Systems designs and manufactures automatic fare collection systems for public mass transit, including rail and buses throughout the world. For more information about Cubic, see the company`s Web site at www.cubic.com. In addition to historical matters, this release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve predictions of future results. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which may affect the company`s business and prospects. These include the effects of politics on negotiations and business dealings with government entities, economic conditions in the various countries in which the company does or hopes to do business, competition and technology changes in the defense and transit industries, and other competitive and technological factors. |
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| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | frank55 (04.02.04 18:09:13) |
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