IRT Hits Highs in Income and Net for Year

Benefiting from new products and growth from an acquired company, IRT on Wednesday announced record earnings of $959,000 for the year ended March 31, a 24% increase over the year before and the sixth consecutive year of record net income.

Revenue for the year rose 85% to $28.9 million.

Earnings in the fourth quarter dropped 6.4% to $393,000, although revenue increased 98% to $9.7 million. Earnings in the prior year were largely boosted by an investment-tax credit, according to Robert Mertz, chairman and president of the engineering and hazardous material monitoring firm.

About $6.5 million of the firm’s revenue was attributed to the acquisition last fall of Ridge, a Georgia-based maker of industrial X-ray equipment.

The balance of the revenue growth was split between IRT’s automotive-inspection products and its defense engineering and test services, according to Mertz.

IRT’s order backlog at year-end rose 81% to $15.6 million.