Special Devices Suffers 40% Drop in Profit for Quarter

Special Devices Inc., a Newhall maker of ignition devices used in automotive air bags and missile systems, said its fiscal second-quarter profit fell 40% from a year earlier on a 6% drop in sales.

In the quarter that ended April 26, the company’s net income fell to $302,000 from $506,000 a year earlier, and its sales dipped to $7.04 million from $7.45 million. Special Devices said the declines partly reflected comparisons with above-normal results a year earlier, when it recorded shipments of aerospace products that earlier had been delayed.

For the first half of its fiscal year, Special Devices’ profit fell 19%, to $485,000 from $600,000 a year earlier, and its six-month sales rose 13%, to $13.5 million from $11.9 million.