NORTH BILLERICA, MA — BTU International broke even for its third quarter, reversing a net loss from last year on stronger electronics sales.

The manufacturer of reflow solder oven and diffusion equipment for solar production said the net profit was down from $300,00 sequentially and up from a net loss of $2.6 million a year ago. For its third quarter ended Oct. 3, sales were $19 million, up 5.4% sequentially and 53.2% from a year ago.

Paul J. van der Wansem said, “Net sales growth in the third quarter reflected the on-going strength of our electronics business. Our operating profit of $800,000 million in the third quarter was driven by increased factory utilization.

“We have strong customer response and orders for our next generation metallization systems used in the manufacturing of solar cells and expect to build on the early successes of our in-line diffusion systems.

BTU guided for fourth-quarter revenues of $25 million to $27 million range. "Margins are expected to be somewhat lower due to the startup cost for the production of new solar equipment. We expect, however, that our results will show solid profitability in the fourth quarter," said van der Wansem.

• Prev
• Next