Computer Automation’s Quarterly Losses Continue

Computer Automation Inc., the ailing Irvine electronics maker, said Tuesday that it lost $2.1 million in its second fiscal quarter.

It was the 13th consecutive quarterly loss, resulting in sustained total losses of more than $25 million in the last three years.

Douglas Cutsforth, president, blamed the latest losses on the persistent slump in sales of computer parts, which has depressed the market for the product-testing equipment that Computer Automation makes.

For the period ended Dec. 31, 1985, the company had revenues of $5.1 million, 48% below the $9.8 million posted the year before. Losses in the previous quarter were $1.6 million. For the first half of the year, losses totaled $5.7 million compared to $2 million the year before. Sales were $10 million, 52% below the $20.9 million in the prior year.

Despite the deepening losses, Cutsforth said the company is adhering to its previously announced plan of gradually reducing its operations. In mid-December, the company closed its facility near Dallas. The company is now studying how to consolidate its European operations.

Cutsforth said Computer Automation is still trying to generate the new financing it needs for its operations and is still talking to potential merger partner Everett/Charles Test Equipment in Pomona. Last week Everett/Charles President Jerry Hudspeth said the two companies had reached a preliminary agreement to merge their operations. But Cutsforth said that it was still “too early to tell” if the talks would produce an agreement.