Sales for the third quarter ended 31 March’09, was at $12.96 million, a dip of about 18% from a year earlier. However, the gross profit margin showed an upward trend of 32.8% for the quarter. This is mainly because of reduced cost of sales and selling and other expenses. Operating margin also witnessed an increase and stood at 34%.
Net Income went down by about 12% to $3 million.
Analysis
The major contributor for the decline in sales was seismic energy systems, seismic energy controllers and air gun replacement parts, which went down by 29% in sales during the quarter.
This decrease in sales is partly offset by sales of underwater cables and connectors, which were up by 5% during the three months ended March 31, 2009.
Slowdown in global seismic exploration activity during the quarter was the reason behind the decrease in sales in seismic energy systems.
Strong Cash Position
BOLT has increased its cash and cash equivalents component by more than 100% in Q3’09. Cash and cash equivalents were at around $24 million.
The company also invested in other short term bank deposits, which helped in increasing the interest income by nearly 200% during the quarter ended March 31, 2009. Interest income during the period stood at $95,000.
R&D Expenses
The company is very keen in improving its products in the category of APG guns and SSMS. This can be inferred from the increase in R&D expenses during the quarter to $65,000, a 10% increase year-on-year.
Strong dependence on some major customers
About 62% of the company’s sales were represented by 5 major customers. This again shows the company’s strong dependence on some specified customers. Though the receivables reduced by almost 18%, dependency on some major customers is still to be considered as a ‘weak’ point for the company.
FY 2009 Sales Estimate
Based on the factors such as decreasing demand for the seismic exploration products, volatility in global oil market, decrease in number of global oil explorations (though BOLT’s positive outlook for its products and increase in R&D expenses), the sales for BOLT is expected to witness a decrease in FY 2009.
Estimate of the EPS for the fiscal year 2009 is around $1.49. Sales are expected to be in the range of $54.24 million.
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