Elecsys Corporation, a developer and manufacturer of machine to machine (M2M) data acquisition, telemetry, and analysis systems and custom electronic assemblies and displays, for critical industries where high quality, reliability and innovation are paramount, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended April 30, 2010.

Sales for the quarter were $4,667,000, an increase of $584,000, or 14%, from the comparable period of fiscal 2009. The increase in sales from the prior year quarter resulted from increases in bookings during the second half of the fiscal year. This contrasted with the decreases in bookings and sales the company experienced at the end of fiscal 2009 related to worsening global economic conditions.

For fiscal 2010, sales were $17,028,000, a decrease of $4,854,000, or 22%, from the fiscal year ended April 30, 2009. The decrease was primarily linked to the overall economic slowdown that affected orders from existing customers and delayed bookings from developing customers in late fiscal 2009 and early fiscal 2010. The largest impact of this trend was evident on company sales during the first six months of the fiscal year.

For the company's EDMS segment, sales in fiscal 2010 were approximately $9,862,000, a decrease of 15% from $11,594,000 in the prior year. Sales of proprietary products were $7,062,000 for fiscal 2010, a 31% decrease from sales of $10,215,000 in fiscal 2009. Sales of the company's Pipeline Watchdog remote monitoring equipment and related services increased $327,000, or 9%, from the 2009 fiscal year due to increased customer demand, new product introductions, and expansion into additional international markets. Sales of Radix brand rugged handheld computer hardware and related services declined 58% from the record deliveries in fiscal 2009. This year to year decrease was primarily driven by the impact of the sluggish worldwide economy and the shipment of a specific $2.6 million order that was delivered in the prior fiscal year.

The company completed the development of its new Model FW950 hand-held computer during the second fiscal quarter and began delivering these new units to customers over the past several months. Sales for eXtremeTAG products have totaled approximately $121,000 since the acquisition of the product line in June 2009. Miscellaneous revenues, consisting of service and repair, technical consulting fees, engineering services and freight billings, were $707,000 for fiscal 2010.

Total consolidated backlog at April 30, 2010, consisting of both EDMS and proprietary product orders, was approximately $6,042,000, an increase of $2,975,000, or 97%, from a total backlog of $3,067,000 on April 30, 2009. Backlog also increased approximately $2,049,000, or 51%, from the total backlog of $3,993,000 on January 31, 2010. The increase in the backlog is a direct result of increased orders from both established and new customers for our custom electronic design and manufacturing services as well as increasing orders for our proprietary products.

Gross margin was approximately 28% of sales, or $1,314,000, for the fourth quarter ended April 30, 2010 as compared to 36% of sales, or $1,470,000, for the fourth quarter ended April 30, 2009. For fiscal 2010, gross margin decreased to 31%, or $5,196,000, from 38%, or $8,231,000, for the 2009 fiscal year. The decrease in gross margin is attributable to lower sales volumes and the resulting decrease in production efficiency and the specific mix of products shipped.

For the fourth quarter, operating income was $44,000 compared to $71,000 for the same quarter during the prior year. For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2010, operating loss was $817,000 compared to the operating income of $1,465,000 reported in fiscal 2009.