Thomas Lovelock, president and chief executive officer, said, �Sales in the first quarter were essentially identical to sales in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001. As a result of our ongoing cost reduction and cost control actions, we were able to reduce our net losses, on a sequential quarterly basis, by two thirds and we are continuing our focus on balance sheet and asset management with great success.�
Lovelock continued, �Our new business development activities, for the first quarter, included becoming Acumentrics' prime supplier for ruggedized UPS and fuel cell assemblies, and becoming scientific instrument maker, Instron's, primary volume assembly provider. We have been actively working with our strategic partner, AMIRIX Systems, offering customers front-end design in addition to our in-house design engineering services. [The company] also has entered an agreement with a global enclosures and fabrication company to offer more back-end services to our customers.�
New order bookings, in the first quarter, increased to $26 million and the book to bill ratio improved from a low last August, of 0.5, to just under 2.5 in December. As a result of the one-time charges and events outlined in the company's form 10K, filed January 14, 2002, the company was in violation of certain financial covenants as of January 11, 2002. The company is currently in discussions with other lending institutions with respect to a new credit agreement.