MINNEAPOLIS – HEI reported first-quarter sales of $9.1 million, down 6.2% year-over-year.

The firm generated a net loss of $157,000 for the period, compared to net income of $185,000 in the first quarter of 2011.

“Our first-quarter results were negatively impacted by a design contract postponed until late in 2012 by one of our customers in our Boulder operation, which generated an unexpected loss for the Boulder division,” said CEO Mark B. Thomas.

“For our Victoria operation, we succeeded in securing two contracts in April that we have been working on for the past three years, providing components to two government contractors in support of the Joint Tactical Radio Systems or JTRS program for the US military.”

HEI designs and manufactures microelectronics, substrates and software solutions.