Chicago – Cobra Electronics reported higher net and operating income in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Net income was $1.9 million for the fourth quarter, compared with net income of $1.4 million in the prior year.
Operating income for the quarter was $1.8 million for the current quarter, compared with operating income of $1.4 million in the same quarter last year. These results reflected a decrease in selling, general and administrative expense that was partially offset by slightly lower net sales and gross margin, Cobra said.
Consolidated net sales were $35 million compared to $35.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, with the Cobra segment reporting a $1.5 million, or 4.5 percent, drop in sales and the performance products limited (PPL) segment reporting a sales increase of $724,000, or 25.4 percent.
The lower sales for the Cobra segment resulted from a drop in domestic sales of detection and truck navigation products, partially offset by increases in European sales and a new category, dash cams. The lower sales of detection products reflected reduced sales at two large retailers that continued to face headwinds in a challenging retail market and the drop in sales of truck navigation products resulted from lower sell-through experienced by travel centers generally, and increased competition.
“We are pleased to report a healthy increase in operating income in the fourth quarter 2013, which was driven by significantly reduced SG&A expense. In addition, we are encouraged by the net sales generated by several new products introduced in the quarter,” said Jim Bazet, Cobra’s chairman and CEO.
For the fiscal year, consolidated net sales were $111.2 million compared to $118.9 million for the same period of 2012. The net loss for the fiscal year was $1.1 million, compared with a net income of $3.2 million or $0.48 per share in the prior year.
