Cobra Electronics had improved first-quarter domestic sales and increased earnings from operations, but lower overall revenue because of a falloff in exports and a sharp drop in net after a substantial one-time charge.
For the three months Cobra had a net of $37,000, down sharply from the year-earlier $237,000, but only after a one-time $230,000 post-tax charge related to the termination of its merger agreement with Beltronics. Net for this year also is after a $23,000 provision for income tax, while at the same time last year it had no such provision.
Sales for the quarter of $19.8 million were off 6.1%.
Commenting on the results, president Jim Bazet said that domestic sales were up 4%, with the growth driven by increased sales of higher-profit Family Radio Service (FRS) two-way radios and six-band radar detectors. That, he said, boosted its gross margin for the period to 25.5% of sales from the year-earlier 20.1%, and provided the operating profit improvement.
