PAR reports fourth-quarter profit gain, full-year net loss

NEW HARTFORD — Earnings rose slightly in the fourth quarter for PAR Technology Corp, (NYSE: PAR), but it wasn’t enough to save the company from a net loss for the full year in 2011.

PAR, which reported its latest results today, earned $1.8 million, or 12 cents per share, on sales of $60.1 million for the fourth quarter. That’s up slightly from net income of $1.7 million, or 11 cents per share, on sales of $63.5 million in 2010.

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

“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 a news 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 upgrade in 2010, increased, including a 13 percent increase in sales to YUM! Brands. International sales also showed growth, a good sign of overall economic recovery, Domorski said.

PAR’s government segment saw 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.

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

Contact DeLore at tgregory@tmvbj.com