QUEBEC CITY – Strong sales, bookings and gross margin performance combined to power EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering’s first quarter results.
Sales reached US$45.6 million for quarter ended November 30, 2009, down 1.7% from the first quarter of 2009 but up 24.8% from US$36.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Net bookings were US$52.2 million for a book-to-bill ratio of 1.14 in the first quarter of fiscal 2010, compared to a “record level” of US$52.3 million in the same period last year, but increased 28.2% from US$40.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Gross margin improved to 63.9% of sales, its highest level since the second quarter of 2001, from 62.3% in the first quarter of 2009 and 60.0% in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Company chairman, president and CEO Germain Lamonde said that he was “extremely pleased” with the results.
"Given that almost all our product lines and geographic regions met or exceeded expectations, I believe that we’ve successfully navigated through the economic recession while continuing to strengthen our market position to greatly benefit from IP fixed-mobile network convergence and broadband deployments – key trends driving our business”, Lamonde said in a statement Tuesday.
