Friday, November 7, 2008

SatCon sees Q3 revenue rise, losses narrow

Boston-based alternative energy management system maker SatCon Technology Corp. reports that the company’s sales of photovoltaic and fuel cell inverters jumped 120 percent over the third quarter last year. Still, SatCon’s net loss on the quarter was $1.3 million compared to $2.4 million for the same period in 2007.

The company’s overall revenue increased $1.1 million to $18.5 million over the third quarter last year, and up $5.1 million over the second quarter this year. For the nine months ending September 27, SatCon (Nasdaq: SATC) booked $43.2 million in total revenue, a 45 percent jump over last year.
 
The rise in numbers comes on the heals of a corporate restructuring at the end of September, when the company sold its electronics and motor divisions in separate deals for a total of $5.6 million in cash. While SatCon did not disclose the individual values of the respective deals, the electronics division went to Spectrum Microwave Inc. of Florida, while the motors division, called SatCon Power Systems, went to US Hybrid Corp. of California.

The restructuring was aimed at focusing the company on its photovoltaic and fuel cell inverter products, and the strategy seems to have brought results, with SatCon also reporting a 30 percent jump in backlog orders over the second quarter. Executives said they expect the company to reach operating profitability in the second half of 2009.

Founded in 1985, SatCon makes a variety of alternative energy systems for large-scale distributed power systems. The company sells to both the private sector and government agencies.