Special Devices Profit Down 10% in 4th Quarter

Special Devices Inc., a Newhall maker of explosive devices such as those used for triggering car air bags, said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit slipped 10% from a year earlier despite a 28% sales gain.

In the quarter that ended Oct. 31, Special Devices’ net income fell to $443,000 from $491,000 a year earlier. The year-ago results included a pro forma income-tax adjustment because Special Devices completed its initial public stock offering in August, 1991.

The company’s fourth-quarter sales climbed to $8.85 million from $6.89 million.

For its full fiscal year, Special Devices’ profit rose 6%, to $1.42 million from $1.34 million the prior year, and its annual sales rose 24%, to $30.1 million from $24.2 million.

Separately, Special Devices said it was selected to supply initiators, or triggers, for use in a newly designed air-bag system being made by Bendix Atlantic Inflator Co.

BAICO is a joint venture of Allied-Signal Inc. (which owns the Bendix automotive products operation) and Atlantic Research Corp., a unit of Sequa Corp.

The contract award’s potential value to Special Devices was not disclosed.