Oak Industries Trims Losses in 2nd Quarter

Benefiting from $5 million in non-operating gains, Oak Industries on Friday reported a $3.5-million net loss for the second quarter ended June 30, less than half the $7.4-million net loss in last year’s quarter.

Sales from continuing operations for the quarter were down 22% to $72.8 million.

For the six months, Oak reported a net loss of $13.02 million, compared to a net loss of $19.9 million last year, which included losses from discontinued operations of $12.2 million.

Partly offsetting losses on Oak’s operations were: a $2-million reduction in a $20-million reserve that Oak established last year to settle contracts from a discontinued energy controls operation; a $1.1-million gain on the sale of Oak’s minority interest in a satellite converter research firm; a $500,000 favorable adjustment to provisions for non-vested stock to key employees, and a $1.4-million reduction in the amount that U.S. Customs officials assessed against Oak for cable-television converters and decoders that it imported from Taiwan between 1977 and 1980.

“We’ll continue to try to reduce those reserves,” said Frank Astrologes, Oak’s former chief financial officer who is serving as a consultant to Oak until year-end.