NEWARK, N.Y. — Ultralife Corp. (NASDAQ: ULBI), a Wayne County–based maker of batteries and communications systems, this morning reported operating income of $822,000 on revenue of $19.2 million in the first quarter ended March 29.
That’s an improvement from the company’s operating loss of nearly $1.1 million on revenue of $15.3 million in the year-ago period.
“Building on our strong fourth quarter performance, we continued to execute well against our business model parameters in the first quarter,” Michael D. Popielec, Ultralife’s president and CEO, said in the earnings release. “With both battery & energy products and communications systems producing top-line sales growth, Ultralife generated consolidated gross margin of 31.3%, operating margin of 4.3% and EPS of [3 cents] for the quarter. Having started the year on a solid note, we remain positioned to generate top-line growth and profitable results for 2015.”
Ultralife shares were up 21 cents, or more than 5 percent, to $4.25 in today’s trading, as of 11:30 a.m.
Ultralife attributed its 25 percent revenue rise to increases in battery & energy products sales (up 17 percent to $16.3 million) and communications systems sales (up more than 100 percent to $2.9 million). The company said it boosted battery & energy products shipments to government/defense customers, while generating higher sales of new communications systems products, including its universal vehicle adaptors to a large international customer.
Ultralife said operating expenses fell to $5.2 million in the first quarter from $5.4 million a year prior, “reflecting ongoing discretionary spending discipline while continuing to invest in new product development.” Operating expenses were 27 percent of revenue compared to 35.5 percent for the year-earlier period, according to the earnings release.
Headquartered in Newark, N.Y., Ultralife has operations in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company has nearly 600 full-time employees, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com