Fischer suffers another poor quarter

X-ray vendor Fischer Imaging continues to be plagued by a 50% drop in sales to OEMs. Hurt primarily by an ongoing decline in shipments of the Tilt-C tilting C-arm to GE Medical Systems, the Denver-based company reported a 31% drop in revenues in its second quarter (end-June).

Fischer posted revenues of $15.2 million, compared with $21.9 million in 1996. The company had a net loss of $1.4 million, compared with earnings of $946,000 in the same period in 1996.

While revenues were up 23% compared with the vendor's first-quarter results (SCAN 4/30/97), Fischer still remains sharply off last year's six-month pace. For the first six months of 1997, the company had revenues of $27.5 million, compared with $42 million in the same period in 1996. Fischer reported a net loss of $5.3 million in the first half, compared with net income of $2 million in 1996.

The news from Fischer wasn't all bad, however. Mammography system sales were up 42% in the second quarter, and the company has reduced its inventory in the first half of the year by $5.2 million. Fischer has $5.1 million in cash and remains essentially debt-free, according to Morgan Nields, chairman and CEO.

The company's primary R&D objective remains the completion of a clinical trial for its SenoScan full-field digital mammography system, which is now operating at five centers in the U.S. and Canada. Some of these sites are gathering data to support the company's 510(k) submission to the Food and Drug Administration, according to the company.