Monitor Labs Reverses 2 Years of Losses in ’84

Reversing two consecutive years of losses, Monitor Labs Inc. reported a profit and increased sales for the year ended last Dec. 31.

Net income of $333,936 compared to a net loss in 1983 of $277,429. Sales last year reached nearly $7.3 million, up 8% over the previous year.

The company, which makes electronic air pollution monitoring equipment, said that more than one-third of its earnings were generated in the fourth quarter, with net income reaching $119,032 in the period ended Dec. 31. Sales in the final quarter were $1.7 million, up 18%.

The profitable year fulfills Monitor officials’ pledge to shareholders at last June’s annual meeting to return the company to the black.

As part of management’s strategy, Monitor Labs is expanding its product line beyond the air pollution control industry, which stalled in the early 1980s and is growing now at a 5% annual rate.

Last month, Monitor Labs made its first acquisition with the purchase of Image Data Systems Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich., for 125,000 shares of Monitor common and $150,000 in cash. Fifty percent of that price is to be paid following completion of “certain marketing objectives” by the subsidiary over the next three years.

Monitor Labs President and Chief Executive Kenneth E. Years said he would use the firm’s profit from air quality products to fund Image Data’s vision-inspection equipment research.