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News

12 November 2007

 

QPC raises full-year 2007 revenue guidance to 2.5x 2006

QPC Lasers Inc of Los Angeles suburb Sylmar, CA, USA, a vertically integrated manufacturer of high-power lasers for the industrial, defense and medical markets founded in 2000, has reported third-quarter 2007 revenue of $2.2m. This is up 132% on $930,000 a year ago and up 18% on $1.8m last quarter due to both increased product and government revenues.

Gross margin has doubled, from 26% to 52%, due mainly to the growth in product revenue. Operating expense was just $2.9m (compared to $8.2m a year ago, although that included a license termination fee of $6m). Correspondingly, net loss has shrunk from $8.3m a year ago to $5.1m (partially offset by increases in sales & marketing and legal & accounting expenses). Cash and cash equivalents at the end of September were $8.6m.

“Our solid revenue performance reflects the continued strong product sales momentum we are generating,” says Dr Jeffrey Ungar, chairman and CEO. “During the third quarter, we achieved the very significant milestone of shipping our first Gen III 100 Watt Laser to a US surgical customer. We believe our Gen III technology has the potential to transform the existing multibillion dollar solid-state and gas laser market, offering up to a ten fold improvement in efficiency, cost, size, weight and ruggedness compared to today’s conventional laser technology,” he adds.

“We are seeing strong interest in our Gen III technology across all the markets we currently serve, most notably from military and defense,” Ungar conntinues. “We recently received a $750,000.00 contract from a US defense customer to deliver high-power fiber-laser pump engines for directed-energy weapons applications [specialized airborne weapons].”

“We also continue to build momentum in demand for our core Gen I and Gen II product families. We see continued strength in our medical laser products and are pursuing expansions of our technology to include visible wavelengths, which would open up multiple new markets for us,” Ungar adds. “Looking ahead, we expect solid growth from our core products and, as we continue the roll out of higher-powered additions to the Gen III product line for a variety of applications, we anticipate these products will contribute to a ramp in revenue in 2008,” he concludes.

In the meantime, QPC has revised its full-year 2007 revenue forecast upwards from $6-7.5m to $7-8m (about 2.5 times 2006’s revenue of $3.1m). “We have ramped our sales and marketing efforts around the world, continued introduction of additional products in our generation III line, and anticipate seeing them contribute to revenues in 2008 and beyond,” says co-founder and chief financial officer George Lintz.

See related items:

QPC wins $750,000 contract for fiber-laser pump engines

QPC expects Q3 revenues to rise 125% year-on-year

QPC’s first Gen III laser ships to US medical customer

QPC introduces BrightLase seed laser

Search: QPC High-power lasers

Visit: www.QPClasers.com