Traditional Industries Posts $2.72 Million Loss

Traditional Industries posted a $2.72-million loss for its fiscal year that ended June 30, largely because of costs related to the company’s settlement of a dispute with the Federal Trade Commission.

The Agoura Hills concern, which sells photographic supplies directly to consumers, earned $4.91 million the previous year. Its revenue in fiscal 1989 jumped 32%, to $62.3 million from $47.1 million.

Separately, Traditional also said its bank lenders agreed to raise the company’s credit lines by about 25%, to $25 million. The additional credit should enable Traditional to achieve a positive cash flow by June 30, the company said.

Traditional is only now announcing its fiscal 1989 results because it took several months to figure out how much the FTC settlement, announced last summer, would cost the company. The cost totaled $2.7 million, which Traditional recorded as a one-time, pretax charge against its earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 1989, Traditional said.

The FTC had alleged, among other things, that certain Traditional sales practices misled consumers about the services Traditional provides. In the settlement, Traditional agreed to cancel contracts with some customers, which contributed to the charge and the delay in tallying its fiscal 1989 results.

The rest of Traditional’s fourth-quarter figures will not be available until the company files its 10-K annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which Traditional expects to do within the next week.