Optos’ 2009 sales dip 4 percent as it slides into the red after $6.3 million restructuring

Optos plc (LSE:OPTS) posted sales of $97.2 million during fiscal 2009, down 3.6 percent compared with $100.8 million during fiscal 2008, and dipped into the red after spending more than $6.3 million in a soup-to-nuts restructuring.

The British retinal imaging firm, which has operations in Marlborough, Mass., posted a net loss of $4.3 million, or 6.1 cents per diluted share, compared with net profits of $4.6 million, or 6.6 cents per diluted share, during the prior year.

Despite that, the company said results were " slightly ahead of expectations," as its pay-per-patient revenues (which accounted for 96 percent of total fiscal 2009 sales) continued to rise. Core PPP revenues grew 2 percent, from $91.7 million to $93.5 million. In North America, Optos posted sales of $85 million, up slightly compared with $84.8 million during fiscal 2008; European sales grew 23 percent to $8.5 million, compared with $6.9 million during the prior year.

Optos chalked the overall top-line decline up to "the expected decline in capital sales as we focused on our core PPP business." Capital sales of its retinal imaging equipment plunged 70.6 percent to $2.5 million during fiscal 2009, compared with capital sales of $8.5 million during the prior year.

The company also released its first-quarter sales numbers for the three months ended Dec. 31, reporting PPP revenues of $22.7 million, flat compared with Q1 2009. Capital sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 were off by a third, coming in at $600,000 compared with $900,000 during the same period last year.

CEO Roy Davis, hired to lead the copmapny out of the wilderness in November 2008, said the first quarter "has historically been a lower-performing quarter for the Optos business, reflecting the impact of Thanksgiving and the Christmas break on consumer spending on eye care."