Lower sales costs boost ATL profits

Officials of ultrasound vendor Advanced Technology Laboratoriescredit product cost reductions and the end of restructuring costsrelated to its acquisition of Interspec for a profitable firstquarter (end-March).

Net income for the quarter rose to $3 million compared witha $274,000 loss in the same period of 1995. Sales of $94.8 millionwere up slightly compared with $94.4 million in last year's firstquarter, but the company reduced product sales costs and no longerfaced the restructuring charges that took the blame for most ofits first-quarter 1995 losses.

Chairman and chief executive Dennis Fill expects further improvementin the company's results due to its new sales effort in Japanand from a recent Food and Drug Administration ruling that willallow ATL to market the use of its Ultramark 9 HDI scanner forspecialized breast imaging applications.

Hitachi, ATL's distribution partner in Japan, is moving forwardwith its marketing campaign after gaining all necessary Japanesegovernment approvals in that country for the HDI 3000 premiumscanner, according to Fill. On April 12, ATL announced that theFDA had approved its premarket approval application to use Ultramark9 HDI as an adjunct to mammography to differentiate suspiciousmasses (SCAN 4/24/96).

Officials at the Bothell, WA, company also expect to beginshipments this month of HDI 3000 scanners equipped with the vendor'snew 3-D vascular visualization features.