ST. LOUIS – Electronics provider LaBarge Inc. reported fiscal 2008 third-quarter net sales of $75.4 million, up 27% year-over-year. Net earnings rose 52% year-over-year to $4.3 million, the company said.

Net sales for the nine months ended March 30 grew 18% to $201.7 million compared to the same period in 2007. Net earnings for the period grew 21% to $10.3 million.

Bookings remained strong during the third quarter, with the largest contributions coming from the defense, industrial and natural resources market sectors, said LaBarge.

After a record level of shipments in the third quarter, backlog at March 30 was $238.06 million, down 3% sequentially, and up 16% from a year earlier.

Shipments on a variety of defense programs comprised the largest portion of revenues, accounting for 37% of net sales, compared with 39% in the previous year’s third quarter.

Shipments to industrial customers were 19% of revenues, compared to 14% in the same quarter last year. Shipments to commercial aerospace customers were 8% of revenues, compared with 5% last year. Shipments to medical customers represented 7%, versus 3% in the year-ago third quarter.

LaBarge anticipates sales and earnings in the fourth quarter to be comparable to third-quarter results.