Cyanotech Corp., a producer of nutritional products out of microalgae, posted its fourth straight profitable quarter as its focus on quality, cost containment, increased productivity and sales growth continued to help turn around the company's fortunes.

The Kona-based company said yesterday it had net income in its fiscal third quarter of $514,000, or 10 cents a share, compared with a loss of $594,000, or 11 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 28.6 percent to $3.6 million from $2.8 million.

Until this current fiscal year, Cyanotech had posted three straight years of fiscal losses.

“;The combination of management focus and operational execution delivered a 343.6 percent (third quarter year-over-year) improvement in gross profit margin,”; said Andrew Jacobson, president and chief executive of Cyanotech.

Last quarter's results also boosted Cyanotech's year-to-date net income to $948,000, a $2.3 million positive swing over the nine-month period in the prior year.

Jacobson said that Cyanotech saw increases in its nutritional content of 200 percent in zeaxanthin, 200 percent in iron, 15 percent in total carotenoids and 62 percent in vitamin B-12.

Jacobson warned, though, that reduced productivity could affect the company's fourth-quarter results.

“;We are still in a period of lower temperatures and reduced sunlight, so we could experience seasonally reduced productivity in the fourth quarter,”; he said.