DeWITT — Declining sales and profit forced job cuts at DeWitt–based Anaren, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANEN) in recent months. The company has reduced its workforce of 1,000 employees by 15 percent since July, saving about $5 million on salaries and benefits. Anaren, which has locations in the Syracuse area, New Hampshire, Colorado, and China, did not […]
DeWITT — Declining sales and profit forced job cuts at DeWitt–based Anaren, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANEN) in recent months.
The company has reduced its workforce of 1,000 employees by 15 percent since July, saving about $5 million on salaries and benefits. Anaren, which has locations in the Syracuse area, New Hampshire, Colorado, and China, did not provide further details on the job cuts.
Net income at the company fell nearly 75 percent in its fiscal second quarter, which ended Dec. 31, to $1.2 million, or 8 cents a share. Net sales for the period fell 17.7 percent from the same period last year to $35.7 million. Sales and profit also tumbled during the firm’s fiscal first quarter.
Anaren develops and manufactures components and subsystems for applications in sectors including satellite communications, defense, and wireless communications.
The company’s business suffered as demand for its products in the wireless infrastructure space sagged, Chairman, President, and CEO Lawrence Sala said during a Jan. 26 conference call on the firm’s latest results. The end of Anaren’s work on a subsystem for a product developed by Cicero–based SRC, Inc. that disables improvised explosive devices (IED) also contributed to the declines.
Sales for Anaren’s wireless group totaled $10.8 million for the fiscal second quarter, down more than 30 percent from the same period a year earlier. Anaren’s wireless customers are forecasting strong demand for the full year in 2012, Sala said.
He expects the company’s wireless business to show signs of improvement in the fiscal fourth quarter. At the very least, customers will need to replace parts as they use up their current inventory, he added.
The company plans to continue monitoring conditions in its wireless market and adjust accordingly.
Sala said Anaren is now selling a package that allows customers to quickly evaluate its latest wireless product line, Anaren Integrated Radio (AIR) modules. The modules can add wireless capabilities to electronic devices.
The evaluation package is sold and promoted through Texas Instruments. About 1,000 have been sold to date, Sala said. The company has been optimistic about AIR’s prospects and Sala said the line’s potential remains solid.
Space and defense sales totaled $24.9 million for the second quarter, down more than 10 percent from a year earlier.
Work in that area of the business has shifted from high-volume production jobs like the counter-IED project to development work and startup activities, Sala said. Profitability in the group should improve as the year rolls on, he said.
Anaren’s defense business has been benefitting from an increase in global demand for ballistic missile defense radar and satellite-based work, Sala added.
The cost-cutting moves Anaren undertook helped drop expenses for the quarter to about $9.9 million from about $10.8 million a year earlier.
Anaren’s share price rose 4.8 percent in January. The Russell 2000 index, of which it is a member, increased 7 percent in the same period.