TIR Systems recorded revenue for the quarter ended December 31, 2004 of $5.6 million, compared with $10.0 million for the three months ended December 31, 2003. The majority of the decrease in revenue was attributable to the reduction in revenues from the company's largest customer, BP, to $1.7 million (30% of total revenues) in the December 2004 quarter, from $8.1 million (82% of total revenues) in the December 2003 quarter. This was as a result of the substantial completion of BP's US re-imaging program.
TIR increased its revenue from all of its other market segments and customers by $2.1 million as compared to last year, an increase of 118%. Architectural lighting revenues grew to $1.4 million.
For the three months ended December 31, 2004, TIR's net loss was $3.0 million, or ($0.14) per share, as compared to net income of $1.9 million, or $0.11 per share, for the three months ended December 31, 2003. Part of this loss was attributable to a non-cash expense of just over $1 million relating to a future tax asset.
The company's gross margins were impacted significantly by the launch of new products, declining from 43% in the year-ago period to 26% in the December 2004 quarter.
Operating income decreased from $2.1 million in the year-ago period to an operating loss of $1.8 million in the December 2004 quarter. The company has reduced its headcount by 18% since the end of last fiscal year.
TIR says that it has made a "significant technology breakthrough" and over the coming months it will announce a universal platform technology that will enable the lighting industry to bring SSL into mainstream commercial, retail, industrial, and other lighting market segments.
The company now has 20 Corporate Identity customers; new customers include Hungry Jack's, Canadian Tire, Irving Oil and Tower Records.
TIR has also signed a new distribution agreement with Cox Plastics to sell TIR's Corporate Identity products into the signage sales market in the UK.
The company has also filed two new patents, to bring the total to 36, up from 13 at this time last year. These filings protect the research that TIR is undertaking, which will be central to the development of the general illumination market and the formation of strategic alliances.
TIR Systems receives $2.9 million in orders
TIR Systems has received two new orders valued at a combined $2.9 million for its Light Pipe products, using halogen illumination.
One contract is for the interior of Chicago O'Hare International Airport Terminal 2, providing general illumination for both the departure and arrival levels. In the second, separate, contract TIR will replace an existing conventional lighting system in the Cobo Hall Tunnel in downtown Detroit, Michigan.
