COO departure leads Orbit International to a loss

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Orbit International Corp. reported second-quarter net income dropped to $199,000 from $917,000 a year ago as net sales dropped to $7.5 million from $8.3 million.

The Hauppauge-based maker of electronic components took a $1.2 million net loss for the first six months of its fiscal year, dropping into the red, compared to $1.4 million profit over the same time period last year.

The loss was due to a $1.2 million one-time charge related to employment contract provisions triggered by the departure of Chief Operating Officer Bruce Reissman in July. Excluding the charge, Orbit eked out an $18,000 profit for the first six months of its fiscal year.

The company’s second-quarter sales fell due to lower shipments from its power group and instrument division, where the firm said revenue was affected by customer delivery schedules favoring the second half of the year.

Orbit also experienced lower gross margins at its electronics and power groups than a year ago, resulting from a change in product mix and lower sales.

“As expected, our 2012 quarterly operating performance has been uneven,” CEO Mitchell Binder said. “As a result of our backlog and projected delivery schedules, we continue to project better operating results in the second half of the year.”

But Binder said based on results so far, even excluding charges related to Reisman’s departure, Orbit still expects results for 2012 to be slightly lower than the prior year.

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