Datron Systems Reports 3% Quarterly Profit Gain

Datron Systems, a Simi Valley communications and defense electronics concern, said its net earnings for the quarter that ended Dec. 31 rose 3% over the same period a year earlier, to $1.19 million from $1.15 million

Sales during the same three-month period were up 44% from the fiscal third quarter of 1989, to $16.8 million from $11.7 million.

During the nine months that ended Dec. 31, Datron earned $1.08 million, a drop of 64% over the year-earlier level of $3.4 million. The drop was apparently caused by a $1.5-million pretax charge incurred after Ford Aerospace Co. canceled a Datron contract because Datron did not deliver a line of enemy radar avoidance systems on time. Datron said the delay was caused by a subcontractor that Datron said did not provide enough components.

Sales during the nine-month period were up 25% over a year earlier, to $41 million from $32.9 million.