Storage products manufacturer Iomega Corp made its promised return to profitability, posting fourth-quarter net income down 47.3% at $19m on revenue down 8.3% at $501.3m. Still, the profit of $0.07 per share beat the First Call consensus of $0.05 and represented the struggling company’s first positive bottom line since last year’s fourth quarter. It wasn’t nearly enough to make up for the other three quarters, though, as the full-year net loss was $54.2m on revenue down 2.6% at $1.69bn. Full-year results were also hampered by a restructuring charge of $9.4m and an acquisition-related charge of $11.1m. Last year the company reported net income of $115.4m, or $0.42 per share. The company, which cut about 12% of its staff last summer, generated over $100m in positive cash flow, reduced inventory by 16% over the preceding quarter and finished the quarter with $90m in cash and short-term investments – double the level it ended the September quarter with. Gross margins improved again in the quarter to 28%, up from 22% in the prior quarter, and driven primarily by cost reductions in both the Zip and Jaz product lines and initial sales of the new Zip USB and Zip 250 drives. Growth in Zip and Jaz disk unit shipments in the quarter increased 47% year-over- year, while Zip drive units rose 26% and Jaz drive shipments fell 7%. Total Zip product revenue for the quarter was $353m and total Jaz product revenue was $123m. Total disk revenue was $206m, while drive revenue was $287m. The company says that although its Clik! Digital Camera bundle began shipping in mid-December, fourth quarter revenue from the product was immaterial. รก
