Irvine Sensors Corp. Posts Quarter Loss

Hoping to make the leap from a research company to a full-fledged manufacturer of infrared sensors, Irvine Sensors Corp. last week reported sharply lower losses and nearly three-fold increase in revenues for the first fiscal quarter of 1985. The Costa Mesa-based defense contractor reported net losses of $126,300 for the period ended Dec. 30, 1984, compared to losses of $387,700 for the year-ago period. Over the same quarter, the company reported contract revenues of $846,300, compared to revenues of $305,400 in the corresponding quarter.

The company primarily credits its improved financial picture to a $4-million R&D; contract it signed last year with Prutech Research and Development Partnership, a San Jose-based affiliate of Prudential-Bache.

By next year, said John Stuart, the company’s investor relations manager, “We hope to take the technology we developed for space applications and start making products for military applications.”

Stuart said the company could have started showing a profit last quarter, “But we traded off modest losses in order to accelerate staffing for a period when we can move into explosive growth.” The company has 60 employees and continues to hire technicians and engineers, he said.

If expected contracts are signed, 1985 will be the last year that the company’s sales are all R&D; related, Stuart said. “If all goes right, 1986 is the year we’ll begin product sales,” he said.