Cyanotech quarterly loss widens to $1.2M
Cyanotech Corp., putting an end to seven months of earnings recalculations and delayed financial filings due to an internal accounting probe, said yesterday that its fiscal 2007 third-quarter loss widened to $1.2 million.
Cyanotech's loss of 23 cents a share for its third quarter -- which ended Dec. 31 -- compared to a loss of 4 cents a share of a year earlier, when it had a net loss of $210,000.
The Kona-based producer of nutritional products from microalgae attributed the loss to a 48.6 percent jump in operating costs, primarily due to higher labor and chemical costs, and a 4 percent decrease in natural astaxanthin sales.
Cyanotech also warned that its gross profit margins for fiscal 2007 and the first quarter of fiscal 2008 will be less than the margins for comparable prior-year periods, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"This is primarily due to increased operating costs, the need to price competitively, and actions under way to bring production to desired capacity and quality levels," Cyanotech said in the filing.
Revenue edged up 4.3 percent in the fiscal third quarter to $2.4 million from $2.3 million a year ago, as sales of Spirulina increased 13 percent. Spirulina is a whole microalgae rich in many nutrients, including antioxidants such as beta-carotene.
For the first nine months of its fiscal year, the company lost $2.1 million versus $348,000 in the year-earlier period. Revenue was $7.4 million, down 6.7 percent.
The company also produces BioAstin, a natural source of astaxanthin that has been shown to be a potent antioxidant, as well as having anti-inflammatory properties; and NatuRose, a source of natural astaxanthin for use in animal feeds.