Photo Acoustic Logs 1st Quarterly Profit

Photo Acoustic Technology, a 3-year-old Newbury Park company that makes quality-control and robotics equipment, has posted its first quarterly profit and appointed a new chairman.

The company earned $54,057, or 2 cents a share, on sales of $177,091 for the second fiscal quarter, ended July 31. During the same period last year, the company lost $132,579, or 5 cents a share, on sales of $23,998.

Over the six months ended July 31, the company lost $10,254, or 0.4 cents a share, on sales of $238,163. A year earlier, it lost $263,466, or 10 cents a share, on sales of $58,086.

Photo Acoustic also disclosed that its founder and original chairman, Arvind Arora, 33, quit. Frank Raab, 64, a member of the board since April, replaced Arora as chairman on July 28.

Raab, a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Naval Reserve, is a former president and chief executive of the Philadelphia-based Insurance Co. of North America. Raab was with INA for 30 years, retiring in 1976.

Last December, Arora stepped down as president but retained the title of chairman and began serving as vice president for marketing. Mantosh Chawla, 39, previously a director and vice president, was named president then, and he continues in that role.

Arora has started a new company that is trying to get acoustical research contracts from the military, Chawla said.

Photo Acoustic designs artificial vision devices that help guide robotic arms, as well as products that inspect surfaces for contamination. Their equipment is used by aerospace and computer companies.