Marketing Start-Up Costs Blamed for Digitext Loss

Digitext reported a widened loss of $894,000 for its second quarter ended Sept. 30, versus a loss of $495,000 in the same period last year.

The three-year-old Thousand Oaks company said its revenue, although still negligible, climbed to $111,000 from $27,000 a year earlier.

Company President Lawrence West Melquiond said the losses resulted primarily from the expense of initiating marketing programs, as well as the cost of developing products. The company added that it hopes to begin bringing in substantial revenue through a distribution deal under negotiation with Wang Laboratories. Digitext makes an electronic keyboard that translates shorthand into regular text.

For the six months ended Sept. 30, company lost $1.6 million on revenue of $215,000, versus a loss of $1.1 million on revenue of $68,000 a year earlier.

For detailed data and results of other companies, please see tables, Page 15.