EECO 3rd-Quarter Profit Dips Despite Sales Rise

Despite an increase in sales, EECO Inc., a Santa Ana electronics maker, said its third-quarter profits fell 10% to $755,000 from $840,000, lagely because of higher administrative, interest and marketing expenses.

For the period ended Sept. 28, the company had sales of $15.8 million, up 12% from the $14.1 million recorded last year.

For the first nine months of its fiscal 1986, EECO reported profits of $1.8 million, up 63% from $1.1 million. Nine-month sales totaled $43.4 million, up 8% from $40.1 million.

The company said that new orders received in the third quarter totaled $17.1 million, 16% higher than the $14.7 million received last year. The order backlog at the end of the quarter stood at $20.9 million, 12% higher than the year before.

Robert C. Milo, EECO president and chief executive, said the overall performance of the company so far this year is the result of profitable operations in all product lines and reflects EECO’s renewed attempts to bolster its marketing. Further, he attributed the company’s strong showing to recent organizational changes within the operations and engineering units.