COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 13, 2002 -- Waterlink Inc. Monday announced that it was profitable from continuing operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2002 and earned net income for the quarter.
Waterlink reported income from continuing operations of $127,000 for the current year quarter as compared to a loss of $1,153,000 in the prior year quarter. Net income for the three months ended March 31, 2002 of $7,000 included $120,000 of losses related to discontinued operations.
As previously announced, the company entered into a letter of intent in early April 2002 to sell its Pure Water Division. Accordingly, the operations of the Pure Water Division have been classified within discontinued operations for all periods presented. For financial reporting purposes continuing operations are comprised of the Specialty Products Division and the corporate office, which was relocated to Columbus in November 2001.
For the six months ended March 31, 2002 Waterlink reported a loss from continuing operations of $513,000 as compared to a loss of $2,174,000 in the previous year. The net loss of $732,000 for the six months ended March 31, 2002 included $219,000 of losses related to discontinued operations.
Bill Vogelhuber, Waterlink's President and Chief Executive Officer, commenting on the company's results, "We are quite proud of the fact that we are able to report both income from continuing operations and on a net basis for the current quarter. This marks the first quarter since June 2001 that we have reported income from continuing operations, and the first time in nine quarters that we have had positive net earnings. As we enter the second half of our fiscal year we hope to continue this positive momentum."
Net sales from continuing operations were $16.1 million for the current quarter as compared to $15.9 million in the prior year quarter, an increase of 1.6%. The sales increase is attributed to the domestic portion of the Specialty Products Division. For the six months ended March 31, 2002 net sales from continuing operations totaled $31.0 million as compared to $29.2 million in the prior year, an increase of 6.2%. This increase was also related to the domestic side of the business.
For the quarter ended March 31, 2002 the company realized operating income of $1,171,000 as compared to $591,000 in the previous year. This increase in operating income is attributable to higher sales in the current quarter, an increase in gross margins, and lower corporate office costs. With regard to year-to-date results, Waterlink reported operating income of $1,772,000 for the six months ended March 31, 2002 as compared to $727,000 in the prior year. The factors previously described with regard to the comparable quarterly periods also accounted for this increase in earnings of over $1 million when comparing year-to-date results.
