NEW HARTFORD — Earnings rose slightly in the fourth quarter at PAR Technology Corp, (NYSE: PAR), but it wasn’t enough to prevent the technology company from reporting a net loss for the year as sales slipped more than 2 percent.

PAR generated net income of $1.8 million, or 12 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, up slightly from net income of $1.7 million, or 11 cents a share, in the year-ago period. But revenue declined to $60.1 million in the latest quarter from $63.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.

For the full year, PAR reported a net loss of $13.4 million, or 89 cents per share, on revenue of $229.4 million, compared with net income of $5 million, or 33 cents a share, on sales of $235 million in 2010.

PAR’s share price closed at $5.04 on Feb. 15, the night before issuing the profit report. On Feb. 16, after the report, the stock opened lower at $5.00 and traded as low as $4.93 that morning. PAR’s stock had been on a roll in the weeks leading up to its earnings release, rising steadily since trading as low as $3.38 on Dec. 20.

PAR’s leader said the company met its objectives in the fourth quarter.

“Since joining PAR, I have stressed focusing and streamlining our organization so we can best realize the important hospitality investments we have made to date,” Chairman and CEO Paul B. Domorski said in the earnings release. “The fourth quarter met our expectations, producing solid results in a slowly improving economic environment. Besides the results, we demonstrated tangible progress towards our strategic goals as evidenced by the sale of our logistics segment, the selection by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. of our in-store food safety technology solution SureCheck, and the successful deployment of our new cloud-based property management solution ATRIO.”

He stressed that focusing on the fundamentals, including improving the balance sheet, while changing the company’s business model, is starting to yield results. Domorski took over as CEO last April after the retirement of company founder John Sammon.

“Our business segments performed consistent with our expectations for the quarter,” Domorski continued. Hospitality revenues, excluding sales to McDonald’s which suffered following the conclusion of an in-store technology upgraded in 2010, increased, including a 13 percent increase in sales to YUM! Brands, he said. International sales also showed growth, a good sign of overall
economic recovery, he said.

PAR’s government segment produced a 21 percent increase in revenue, driven primarily by a new $42.5 million, five-year contract with the U.S. Army to supply intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance technologies and services.

“In conclusion, we see 2011 as a year of transition as we remain committed to building a world-class company,” Domorski said.

Headquartered in New Hartford, PAR (www.partech.com) has two main operating segments. Its hospitality technology segment produces and sells technology products and services for restaurants, hotels, spas, retailers, cinemas, cruise lines, stadiums, and food-service companies. PAR’s government segment develops geospatial and full-motion video products for various levels of government and provides communications and information technology support to the U.S. Department of Defense. 

SYRACUSE — An Albany–based law firm with its sights set on 10 nationwide offices in the next five years will set up its next location in Syracuse.

Tully Rinckey PLLC plans to open its local office in April with three attorneys and expects to expand to seven in the following year. The firm is aiming for 10 attorneys in Syracuse within about two years after opening here.

Tully Rinckey started in Albany about seven years ago and then expanded to Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Va. Rather than spend years and years building a large firm in a single geography through challenging local recruiting, Tully Rinckey decided to expand through establishing a number of smaller offices in different markets, Founding Partner Mathew Tully says.

For its fourth office, the firm explored markets including White Plains, Maryland, and the Springfield, Mass. area. The firm liked the potential for two offices working in the same state and so settled on starting its next location in New York.

“What really made us like Syracuse was the commonality of law with our Albany office,” Tully says.

Plus, starting up in Syracuse is far less expensive than in White Plains, near New York City, he adds.

Practice areas at Tully Rinckey include matrimonial law, trusts and estates, criminal defense, real estate, and general litigation. Filling the Syracuse office with experienced lawyers in those areas will be the firm’s top priority, Tully says.

That doesn’t mean the firm won’t expand into other areas if the right attorney with a slightly different practice focus comes along, he adds.

The firm aims to recruit mid-level lawyers from other firms and has sent nearly 3,800 letters to attorneys within an hour’s drive of Syracuse. Tully says he wants to attract attorneys with experience, but not those at a senior level.

“A mid-level person might be making $90,000 a year, but generating $400,000 in revenue for that firm,” Tully says. “That’s the perfect candidate for us.”

One of Tully Rinckey’s experienced attorneys will move to Syracuse to help start the local office. The firm is already in talks with two local attorneys about joining, Tully adds.

After launching Syracuse, Tully Rinckey expects to continue its expansion west. The firm plans to open offices in both Rochester and Buffalo, including launching in one of those two cities by the end of 2012.

Overall, the firm’s goal is to employ more than 100 attorneys in the next three to five years, Tully says. The firm currently employs 84 people total, including more than 30 attorneys.

Tully Rinckey started in Washington, D.C. in 2008. That office now has 14 attorneys. It opened its third office, in Arlington, in 2010.