Special Devices Inc. Shows Earnings Jump of 63%

Special Devices Inc., a Newhall-based manufacturer of trigger devices for the automotive and aerospace industries, reported a 63% jump in earnings for the company’s fiscal fourth quarter that ended Oct. 31.

Profits in the fourth quarter totaled $1.08 million, compared with $662,000 in the same quarter a year earlier. Fourth-quarter sales increased to $19.8 million, up 53% from $12.9 million a year earlier.

For the fiscal year, Special Devices reported net income of $3.17 million on sales of $64.5 million, compared with year-earlier profit of $1.33 million on sales of $37.5 million.

The company attributed the improved results to surging sales in its automotive division, which makes pyrotechnic initiators used in air-bag inflation systems on automobiles. Sales in the automotive division totaled $49.5 million in fiscal 1994, up 72% from a year earlier.

The aerospace division benefited from the company’s recent acquisition of Scot Inc., a Chicago-based company that manufactures aircraft crew escape components. Aerospace sales totaled $15 million in fiscal 1994, up $1.94 million from a year earlier. Most of that gain came as a result of the acquisition of Scot.