NEW HARTFORD — PAR Technology Corp. (NYSE: PAR) today reported a net loss from continuing operations of $3.6 million, or 24 cents a share, in the fourth quarter as the company took charges to restructure its software products and pay some legal costs.
Excluding special charges totaling $7.6 million in the quarter, PAR earned $1.2 million, or 8 cents a share.
In the fourth quarter of 2011, the New Hartford–based provider of hardware and software to the hospitality industry, reported net income from continuing operations of $1.8 million, or 12 cents per share.
PAR’s net revenue rose more than 10 percent to $66.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 from $60.1 million in the year-ago period. Software revenue increased 32 percent in the latest quarter.
Of the $7.6 million in special charges that PAR took in the fourth quarter, $5.4 million was a non-cash writedown for ending its EverServ QSR point-of-sale software product. And, the rest was for litigation and settlement costs for a patent claim, according to CEO Paul Domorski and CFO Ronald Casciano, speaking on a conference call with analysts and investors this morning.
“Higher development expenses and too many priorities are some of the reasons why we’ve taken the actions we’ve taken,” Domorski said. “We realized we had resources in the wrong places.”
Some PAR employees that worked on the EverServ QSR product were laid off and others were redeployed to other products, Domorski said, declining to provide specific numbers.
The company is instead focusing on growing its nascent ATRIO software products and its newly released hardware systems.
“PAR’s balance sheet remains strong,” Casciano said on the conference call. The company had more than $19 million in cash on the balance sheet at the end of the fourth quarter and debt of just $1.3 million, he noted.
PAR shares rose 16 cents, or more than 3.5 percent, to $4.47 in morning trading, as of 10:45 a.m. At that price, the stock was down almost 9 percent year to date. And, the stock is trading more than 40 percent below where it was five years ago.
Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com