National Education Reports $2.6-Million Loss : Earnings: Vocational services provider says low first-quarter figures are result of seasonal patterns.

National Education Corp., blaming a seasonal downturn in its training and vocational programs business, reported a first-quarter loss of $2.6 million.

The loss, which amounted to 9 cents a share, contrasted with a loss of $5.6 million, or 19 cents a share, for the first quarter of 1991.

Meanwhile, the provider of vocational education and training services said its revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was $87.3 million, up 3% from $84.7 million for the same period in 1991.

Jack Polley, a company spokesman, said the results were in line with expectations.

“Our businesses are year-end loaded. (That is when) people are traditionally thinking about education,” Polley said. “We grew up that way. You go to school in the fall and winter and take off in the summer.”

The company’s industrial training services also follow a seasonal pattern, as businesses tend to renew contracts at year’s end. New corporate customers also tend to sign up for training programs at that time as managers plan for the next year, analysts said.

“If you take a look over the past several years, you can see it’s a well-established pattern,” said Clarke L. Walser, an analyst with Hamilton Investments in Chicago. “Once that pattern develops, it’s self-perpetuating.”

Analysts have been generally optimistic about the company’s prospects for 1992 after its management team reduced borrowing, reassigned lines of credit and repaid bank debt. Last year, the company posted a profit of $5.4 million, its first annual profit since 1988.

“They’ve been making progress,” Walser said, adding that the first-quarter results “seem at least moderately encouraging to me.”

NEC has also benefited somewhat from increased enrollment in its career-training and educational advancement programs. Because of the recession, many displaced workers enroll in vocational programs to learn new skills. In addition, workers take new courses to help increase their job security.

Quarterly Earnings History National Education Corp. lost $2.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, an improvement over the company’s $5.6-million loss of the same period in 1991. In millions of dollars Revenue 92’ 1st: $87.3 Profits / Loss In millions of dollars 92’ 1st: -$2.6 Source: National Education Corp.