LoJack earnings hurt by slumping auto sales
LoJack Corporation reported today that revenue for the first quarter ended March 31, 2008 declined 15% to $46.1 million, from $54.1 million in the same period a year ago.
Net income was $1.0 million for the first quarter, compared to $6.1 million for the same period a year ago, and earnings per fully diluted share were $0.05, compared to $0.32 in the same quarter a year ago.
In announcing the results, Richard T. Riley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, "As we reviewed on April 2, our financial performance in the first quarter was directly affected by the continued domestic economic challenges, which have severely impacted the automotive industry, and by the timing of orders from our international licensees."
Domestic revenue in the first quarter declined 19% to $31.0 million from $38.3 million in the prior year, due to a 19% decline in unit volume.
"While all of our major geographic regions were impacted by the decline in domestic auto sales," Riley said, "unit volume declines were most acute in our western region. The automotive market in southern California continues to struggle. Since we are highly penetrated in southern California, our domestic auto unit volume declined at a pace that was disproportionately high, relative to the national trend of declining auto sales for the quarter... We continue to expect a decline in domestic auto sales for the year and, as a result, believe that our domestic unit sales volume will continue to be negatively impacted throughout the remainder of 2008."
International revenue in the first quarter also declined to $10.3 million, from $11.2 million in the prior year, reflecting a 10% decline in unit volume.
