Revenue for the quarter ended April 30, 2001 was the highest in the Company’s history. As previously reported on May 8, 2001, revenue for the quarter ended April 30, 2001 was $62.4 million, compared to $39.4 million during the same period last year, an increase of 58%.
Gross margin in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001 was $32.2 million or 52% of sales compared to $23.5 million or 60% of sales in the same period of fiscal 2000. Revenue for the current quarter includes $2.0 million of lower margin resale products which reduced gross margin by 2%. This, combined with a more competitive pricing environment, is the primary reason for the lower gross margin.
Earnings before amortization and equity interests in losses of partly owned businesses adjusted for income taxes (Net Operating Income) for the quarter were $1.6 million or $0.05 per share compared to $4.1 million or $0.14 per share for the same period last year.
The Company is committed to improving its expense ratios and also expects to realize further cost synergies from the DPS acquisition in the first six months of 2002. In addition, the Company began implementing an enterprise resource planning system (ERP) in fiscal 2001 and expects to begin realizing cost savings in late fiscal 2002 through improved information handling tools.
Net loss in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001 was ($3.9) million or ($0.13) per share compared to net earnings of $3.2 million or $0.13 per share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2000.
Revenue for the year ended April 30, 2001 was $220 million compared to $163 million during the same period last year, an increase of 35%. Net Operating Income for fiscal 2001 was $16.7 million or $0.58 per share compared to $20.1 million or $0.79 per share in fiscal 2000. Net earnings for fiscal 2001 were $2.3 million or $0.08 per share compared to $17.3 million or $0.68 per share in fiscal 2000.
Gross margin for the year ended April 30, 2001 was $120.4 million or 55% compared to $94.5 million or 58% of sales for the same period in fiscal 2000. The reduction in gross margin percentage was primarily due to the acquisition of DPS which historically had moderately lower margins and competitive issues.
The reduction in net earnings in fiscal 2001 compared to fiscal 2000 was primarily a result of the equity interests in the loss of partly owned businesses (predominantly Path 1), decrease in gross margin, significantly higher amortization of intangibles, increases in sales and administrative expenses and investments in new initiatives including Video over IP and Telco/Cable. Many of the Company’s significant Video over IP and Telco/Cable projects, such as making certain key products NEBBS compliant and IP enabling many products, are complete or are underway. Also, the Video over IP and Telco/Cable initiatives are now fully integrated into the Company’s core Video Processing and Distribution business and accordingly, expenses in these areas is expected to decline significantly in fiscal 2002.
Strategic Investments
The Company’s strategy as laid out in 2000 resulted in a commitment to making strategic investments in areas of new technology. The strategy manifested itself through investments in Path 1 Network Technologies Inc., Fastvibe Inc., and by expanding its ASIC development investment. For 2001 the Company incurred operating costs of $8 million relative to these strategic initiatives and $9 million in equity losses with very little offsetting revenue. The Company remains committed to these strategic investments as it believes that they possess significant potential upside as video markets evolve. The Company is seeking strategic partners for its ASICs business to both broaden the customer base for ASIC products and also to share the financial commitment for this initiative.
Significant highlights from this quarter include:
The announcement of a wide range of new products at the NAB show including NEO, our new modular interface series; the VR400 server line with advanced non-linear editing systems; the dpsWhiplash2, a slow-motion instant replay system; Mediafile, a new still store system; and the dpsNetStreamer, an expandable professional multiple web stream encoder.
The appointment of Andrew Kun as Vice President of Engineering. In his new role, Andrew heads up the research and development activities of the Company. With a proven track record in building and growing cohesive and motivated development teams, Andrew’s business experience encompasses the full range of the product development cycle, from product strategy definition to product deployment.
The Company has accomplished much of what it set out to do at the beginning of fiscal 2001. Revenue growth, a key strategic initiative for 2001, was strong. We have significantly strengthened the management team of the Company and are improving the Company’s infrastructure, both of which will help to improve the effectiveness of the organization as well as making the Company scalable for future growth, said John MacDonald, President and CEO of Leitch. Going forward, we intend to continue to focus on leading each line of business that we operate in while using our cash flow and technology to enter promising new markets. We intend to continue to invest in research and development to bring the most innovative products to market.
Profitability will be a key focus for the Company next year. As part of the implementation of our ERP system, we are reengineering many of our business processes for efficiencies and effectiveness.
The Company is well positioned with a strong balance sheet that includes a $14.0 million cash position, available credit facilities in excess of $50 million and no debt at April 30, 2001.