Fischer has slight uptick in revenues

Fischer Imaging appeared to make some progress in its 1997 fourth quarter toward turning the company around, posting an increase in quarterly revenues for the first time in fiscal 1997. But the news wasn't all good: The company reported a net loss for the year of $13.3 million.

For the fourth quarter (end-December), Fischer posted revenues of $14.8 million, up 1.2% over the $14.6 million reported in the fourth quarter of 1996, when Fischer first felt the impact of a sharp drop in shipments to OEMs. The company reported a net loss of $4.1 million, compared with a net loss of $2.6 million last year.

Despite the slight improvement in quarterly revenues, Fischer's annual figures remained well off last year's performance. For 1997, Fischer had revenues of $56.9 million, a dip of 26.6% compared with 1996 revenues of $77.5 million. The company's net loss swelled from $361,000 in 1996 to $13.3 million in 1997. The 1997 loss included a $2.9 million restructuring charge for consolidation of the firm's manufacturing facilities.

The company's financial performance has been plagued by the loss of OEM business from GE Medical Systems. In recent months, however, the Denver-based firm has moved to shore up its OEM base, landing agreements with Johnson & Johnson and Imagyn Medical Technologies (SCAN 10/29/97). Fischer also has a relationship with Sterling Diagnostic Imaging to manufacture that company's line of DirectRay digital detector systems.