NEWARK, NY -- IEC Electronics' net income fell 79% year-over-year in the June period but the EMS provider did reverse its loss from the previous quarter. For its fiscal third quarter ended June 28, the company reported revenue of $35,154,000, down 2.4% from a year ago.

Net income was $382,000, down from $1.84 million in 2012. The contract electronics assembler saw demand from the industrial sector fall, offsetting improvement in military, aerospace and medical. Gross margins fell to 14.7% from 19%, primarily on lower utilization.

In a press statement, chairman and CEO  W. Barry Gilbert said, "While revenue and earnings are down from the same quarter last year, we made quite a bit of progress from the $1.1 million loss in the second quarter. This sequential improvement was delivered in spite of approximately $1.1 million of legal and accounting costs associated with the restatement of our financial information. We expect to have additional legal and accounting charges. Nonetheless, we expect our fiscal Q4 to show stronger sales and earnings than fiscal Q3."

IEC added two military and aerospace customers, three medical and several industrial accounts during the period. "All these customers represent multi-billion dollar organizations seeking a higher level of technical capability and support than their current supplier offers. We expect to see some benefit from these new customers in about six to nine months," Gilbert added. Military and aerospace makes up 47% of IEC's revenue, with medical 20% and industrial 22%.

During the period, IEC realigned manufacturing at its Newark facility from one large operation to three smaller operations focused on specific end-markets. "The realignment has created some challenges associated with the learning curve for the managers we’ve asked to accept new responsibilities," Gilbert said. "Our customers seem to like and understand the change, especially some of the new ones."