NTS Registers Gain of 132% in 3rd Quarter

National Technical Systems reported net income for its third quarter ended Oct. 31 of $107,000, or 3 cents a share, up 132% from the corresponding period a year ago. Sales for the quarter rose 12%, to $6.4 million.

Calabasas-based NTS attributed the quarterly income increase to defense contracts received by its engineering department at the end of the previous quarter. The company provides testing services--such as stress studies on equipment--primarily for the defense and aerospace industries.

For the nine months ended Oct. 31, NTS lost $545,000, or 14 cents a share. During the same period a year earlier, NTS reported a profit of $238,000, or six cents a share. Sales for the nine-month period rose 9%, to $18.6 million.

The company attributed this year’s nine-month loss to the two unprofitable divisions that were discontinued last summer--NTS Products, which marketed a sound-activated light and appliance switch, and a soil-testing unit based in San Ramon, Calif.