Trimedyne’s Earnings Jump to Record $1.5 Million for Third Quarter

Booming sales of Trimedyne’s medical laser catheters boosted the Santa Ana company’s earnings to a record $1.5 million for the third quarter ending June 30.

Profits increased sixfold from $203,000 a year earlier. Third-quarter sales were $8.3 million, more than double last year’s $3.8 million.

“(The results) surprised a few of us,” said Dana Nickell, the firm’s vice president of finance and chief financial officer. “We’re growing at a tremendous rate.”

Trimedyne’s fortunes took off in March, 1987, when it became the first company to win Food and Drug Administration approval to market a laser catheter to treat arteriosclerosis in the leg. The device uses a tiny laser beam at the end of a catheter to vaporize fatty deposits blocking leg arteries.

For the first nine months of fiscal 1988, earnings climbed to $3.7 million, compared to $319,000 reported for the same period of 1987. Revenue grew to $20.7 million, from $8.1 million for the year-earlier period.

Meanwhile, a group of investors led by Irving Harris, a Chicago-based financier, disclosed Monday that it has disbanded its collective interest in Trimedyne. The Harris group, which included two members of Trimedyne’s seven-person board of directors, waged an unsuccessful battle earlier this year to gain control of the seven-year-old firm.

The group became the largest Trimedyne shareholder on July 22 when it increased its investment to 10.5%. Trimedyne’s chairman and founder, Marvin Loeb, owns about 10% of the company.

Although members of the Harris group will no longer act in concert, Harris said they may individually decide to buy or sell shares, or approach a third party about acquiring Trimedyne.

“The company’s growing at a remarkable pace,” Harris said. “It’s a sound investment.”