QUEBEC CITY – Earlier this week, telecom service assurance provider EXFO Inc. reported sales of US$58.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2013, a drop of US$0.6 million compared the same quarter in 2012.
Year-to-date revenue was at US$181.2 million compared to US$192.8 million for the same period a year earlier.
Third quarter bookings for the quarter ended May 31, 2013 were at US$61.8 million compared to US$57.5 million in the same period last year and US$53.4 million in the second quarter of 2013.
IFRS net loss for the third quarter 2013 totaled US$0.9 million, or US$0.01 per share, compared to a net loss of US$3.7 million, or US$0.06 per share, in the same period last year and net earnings of US$39,000, or US$0.00 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2013.
Adjusted EBITDA totaled US$3.1 million, or 5.3% of sales, in the third quarter of fiscal 2013 compared to US$0.5 million, or -0.8% of sales, in the third quarter of 2012 and US$4.4 million, or 7.1% of sales, in the second quarter of 2013.
“Although we increased bookings 7% year-over-year and 16% sequentially in the third quarter, our financial performance clearly ended below our expectations,” said EXFO chair, president and CEO Germain Lamonde in the company’s release. “Network operator spending remained muted in the telecom industry with bookings soft in EMEA and uneven in Asia-Pacific, while rather strong in the Americas based on 4G/LTE and 100G deployments.”
EXFO’s bookings improved 7.4% year-over-year and 15.8% quarter-over-quarter to US$61.8 million in the third quarter, particularly in the U.S. during May. The company’s top customer accounted for 6.6% of third quarter sales, while the top three represented 15.7%. Bookings progressed particularly in EXFO’s wireless and high-speed optical product lines.
Sales forecasts for the fourth quarter of FY2013 are expected to be between US$58.0 million and US$63.0 million, while IFRS net earnings are expected to range between US$0.00 and US$0.04 per diluted share.
