Sluggish Sales Lead to Quarter Loss for Certron
Certron Corp., a maker and distributor of various types of audio and video recording materials, reported a loss of $95,000 on sales of $6.2 million for the three-month period ended Jan. 31.
The fiscal first-quarter loss contrasts with a profit of $39,000 on sales of $6.2 million in the like quarter a year ago.
An official at the Anaheim company attributed the loss and flat sales to historically sluggish after-Christmas sales, a smaller profit margin on a portion of the videocassette sales and a year-to-year drop in sales of printing cartridges for Xerox/Diablo computer printers.
However, the decline in printer cartridge sales was offset for the most part by a rise in sales of magnetic tape and disk products, including a significant increase in floppy disk sales, the company said in a statement.
During the first quarter, Certron began work on an assembly contract with the Cannon Electric division of ITT Corp. Both companies are drafting a new long-term contract for the assembly of connector components in Certron’s Mexicali, Mexico, facility.
Certron manufactures and distributes audio recording tapes and floppy disks, distributes videocassettes to the consumer market and contractually manufactures and assembles products such as computer printer cartridges for other companies.
