Profits slim at both Ultralife, Graham
Two Rochester-area manufacturers that work in different aspects of the energy industry had challenging second quarters.
Ultralife Corp. in Newark, Wayne County, earned a slim profit even as its battery sales to the U.S. Defense Department decreased.
Graham Corp. in Batavia, Genesee County, saw its sales and profit plummet, though the maker of equipment for the oil refining industry expects that it has reached the trough of its downturn.
Ultralife CEO John D. Kavazanjian said the $17,000 in net income for the April-June quarter came through improvements in the company’s manufacturing and cost controls.
For the period that ended June 27, the maker of batteries and communications and power supply equipment had sales of $37 million, down more than 6 percent from the same three months a year earlier. The $17,000 profit compares with a $7 million loss in the second quarter of 2009. It marks Ultralife’s third consecutive quarter of profits after steep losses during much of 2009.
For the second half of 2010, Ultralife expects some improvements as it begins shipping orders it received earlier this year for $21 million worth of its SatCom-On-The-Move systems for use in military armored vehicles.
Ultralife employs more than 1,000 people, the majority of them in Newark. Its stock fell 10 cents Thursday to $4.53, though the shares are up almost 5 percent this year.
At Batavia-based Graham, sales were down nearly 34 percent, to $13.4 million, in the quarter that ended June 30, while profit fell 75 percent to $878,000. The weak economy continues to affect the U.S. refining industry, and international sales fell largely because of the timing of projects.
Graham received $8.1 million in orders during the quarter, down 10 percent from a year earlier. But its $89.1 million backlog of orders was more than twice the $37 million backlog it had in June 2009.
Graham has about 240 employees. Its stock rose 13 cents to $16.17 but remains down almost 22 percent since Jan. 1.
