Micom’s Earnings Off 39% for 3rd Quarter

Micom Systems said its earnings fell 39% to $4.2 million, or 24 cents a share, in the third quarter ended Dec. 31, in part because of the cost of expanding the company’s sales force. Micom’s sales were up less than 1% from the same quarter last year, to $49.1 million.

Micom, a Simi Valley-based maker of computer communications equipment, has been hit hard by the computer industry slump. Over the first nine months of its fiscal year, the company’s earnings fell 54%, to $9.2 million. Sales were up less than 1%, to $142.7 million.