Special Devices Reports $1.34-Million ’91 Profit

Special Devices Inc., a Newhall maker of pyrotechnic devices for the military and the auto industry, said it earned $1.34 million in fiscal 1991 contrasted with a year-earlier loss of $294,000.

Revenues for the year that ended Oct. 31 jumped 73% to $24.2 million from $14 million a year earlier, the company said.

Fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled to $501,000 from $241,000, while revenues grew 16% to $6.9 million from $5.9 million.

Special Devices attributed the yearly sales gain in part to delayed shipments from its aerospace division, resulting in lower sales in fiscal 1990. Also, sales in the company’s automotive products division, which makes triggers that inflate automobile air bags, jumped 315% compared with a year earlier, the company said.