Schmitt Industries announced its operating results for third quarter and nine months ended February 28, 2015. Q3 total sales decreased $55,545, or 1.8%, to $3,010,618 from $3,066,163 in the three months ended February 28, 2014.
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Net loss was $168,371, or $0.06 per fully diluted share, for the three months ended February 28, 2015 as compared to net loss of $72,107, or $0.02 per fully diluted share, for the three months ended February 28, 2014.
For the nine months ended February 28, 2015, total sales increased $102,748, or 1.1%, to $9,211,410 from $9,108,662 in the nine months ended February 28, 2014. Net loss was $186,428, or $0.06 per fully diluted share, for the nine months ended February 28, 2015 as compared to net loss of $381,867, or $0.13 per fully diluted share, for the nine months ended February 28, 2014.
Balancer segment sales focus throughout the world on end-users, rebuilders and original equipment manufacturers of grinding machines with the target geographic markets of North America, Asia, Europe and South America.
Balancer segment sales decreased $66,379, or 3.4%, to $1,903,482 for the three months ended February 28, 2015 compared to $1,969,861 for the three months ended February 28, 2014. The decrease is primarily attributed to softer sales in North America, offset in part by increased sales in Asia for the quarter.
Balancer segment sales decreased $171,098, or 2.9%, to $5,666,501 for the nine months ended February 28, 2015 compared to $5,837,599 for the nine months ended February 28, 2014. The decrease is primarily attributed to softer sales in North America, offset in part by increased sales in Asia for the first three quarters of the fiscal year.
The Measurement segment product line consists of laser-based surface measurement and laser-based distance measurement and dimensional sizing products and ultrasonic-based remote tank monitoring products.
Total Measurement segment sales increased $10,834, or 1.0%, to $1,107,136 for the three months ended February 28, 2015 compared to $1,096,302 for the three months ended February 28, 2014, driven by an increase in revenues associated with the sales of remote tank monitoring products and related monitoring services, offset by decreased sales of laser-based surface measurement and laser-based distance measurement products.
Measurement segment sales increased $273,846, or 8.4%, to $3,544,909 for the nine months ended February 28, 2015 compared to $3,271,063 for the nine months ended February 28, 2014, driven by an increase in revenues associated with the sales of remote tank monitoring products and related monitoring services and an increase in sales of laser-based surface measurement products.
Gross margin for the three months ended February 28, 2015 decreased to 44.9% as compared to 47.5% for the three months ended February 28, 2014. Gross margin for the nine months ended February 28, 2015 increased to 47.4% as compared to 46.7% for the nine months ended February 28, 2014.
The fluctuations in gross margin in both the three and nine month periods ended February 28, 2015 compared to the three and nine month periods in the prior fiscal year is primarily influenced by shifts in product sales mix involving our five product lines.
Operating expenses decreased $38,715, or 2.5%, to $1,500,870 for the three months ended February 28, 2015 as compared to $1,539,585 for the three months ended February 28, 2014. General, administrative and selling expenses increased $17,168, or 1.2%, for the three months ended February 28, 2015 as compared to the same period in the prior year due in part to increases in personnel expenses offset by reductions in professional fees and depreciation expense.
Research and development expenses decreased $55,883, or 36.9%, for the quarter ended February 28, 2015 as compared to the same period in the prior year due to fewer development projects within our existing product lines occurring during the third quarter of Fiscal 2015 as compared to the third quarter of Fiscal 2014.
Operating expenses decreased $100,876, or 2.2%, to $4,536,317 for the nine months ended February 28, 2015 as compared to $4,637,193 for the nine months ended February 28, 2014.
General, administrative and selling expenses decreased $3,228, or 0.1%, for the nine months ended February 28, 2015 as compared to the same period in the prior year. Increases in personnel costs and marketing and trade show expenses were offset by decreases in professional fees, depreciation expense and other general office and utility costs.
Research and development expenses decreased $97,648, or 25.0%, for the first three quarters of Fiscal 2015 as compared to the same period in the prior year due to fewer development projects within our existing product lines occurring during the first three quarters of Fiscal 2015 as compared to the same period of Fiscal 2014. ■