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Azure Dynamics Reports 2nd Quarter 2011 Results

The Oak Park hybrid and electric truck powertrain developer Azure Dynamics Corp. (OTC: AZDDF) Thursday reported record second quarter revenue of $9.3 million, up 140 percent from $3.9 million in the same period of 2010.

Second quarter unit sales increased 57 percent to 202 units from 129 last year.

Six-month revenues were also a record, at $10.7 million, up 60 percent from $6.7 million a year earlier, representing 253 vehicle shipments.

The 2011 second quarter included 97 Transit Connect Electric vehicle sales, which launched in April, 2011.

Said Scott Harrison, CEO of Azure Dynamics: "The increase in quarterly revenues was driven by the successful launch of the Transit Connect Electric in both North America and in Europe and validates our customers increasing demands for fuel efficient alternative commercial vehicles to meet their diversified fleet requirements."

Net loss for the 2011 second quarter totaled $7.3 million, or 1 cent a share, up from a loss of $6.2 million, 1 cent a share, in the second quarter of 2010. Net loss for the six month period totaled $16.3 million, or 2 cents a share, compared to a loss of $11.1 million, or 2 cents a share, in the comparable period a year ago.

"Our margins during the second quarter were impacted by higher than anticipated initial costs associated with the global production launch of the Transit Connect Electric, as well as changes in product mix resulting from customer delivery date modifications for higher margin product," Harrison said. "We are already seeing improvements to our production costs and we expect our margins to improve in each of the next two quarters of 2011."

New orders received during the second quarter of 2011 relating to current year deliveries were $5.6 million, representing 102 vehicles, compared with first quarter 2011 orders of $16.8 million and fourth quarter 2010 orders of $3.5 million. For the 2011 six-month period, new order intake for 2011 deliveries total $22.4 million, representing 540 vehicle orders.

Engineering, research and development expenses in the 2011 second quarter totaled $4 million (including $2.9 million in product development costs, offset by $2.4 million in customer contributions), compared to $3.8 million (including $3 million in product development costs, offset by $600,000 million in customer contributions and $1 million in government grants) for the same period in 2010. R&D expenses for the 2011 six-month period totaled $9.4 million (including $5.9 million in product development costs, offset by $3.4 million in customer contributions), compared to $5.5 million (including $5.8 million in product development costs, offset by $8,000 in customer contributions and $4.4 million in government grants) for the same period in 2010.

As of June 30, the company's net cash and cash equivalents totaled $11.7 million, and working capital totaled $14.7 million, compared to cash and cash equivalents of $17.7 million, and working capital of $22.1 million, as of March 31.

Based on current market conditions, orders to date and future order expectations, the Company now expects 2011 revenues to be in the range of $38 million to $45 million.  Unit volume for 2011 is expected to be in the range of 850 to 975 units, consisting of approximately 350 to 400 Balance Hybrid Electric drive-trains and 500 to 575 Force Drive Electric drivetrains for the Transit Connect Electric.

Management will host a webcast and conference call Friday, August 12, at 9 a.m. Eastern time to discuss the results. Those interested in North America should call (877) 317-6789, or (412) 317-6789 elsewhere. An accompanying presentation will be posted to the company's Web site, www.azuredynamics.com, immediately prior to the call. For those unable to participate in the live conference, a call replay will be posted on Azure's Web site no later than Monday, Aug. 13.

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