Pinnacle Expects Loss

Pinnacle Micro Inc. said Thursday it expects to report a loss of $4 million, including noncash interest expense of about $800,000, and revenue of about $14 million for the first quarter. For the year-ago first quarter, Pinnacle reported a loss of $3.9 million, or 50 cents a share, on sales of $17.4 million.

Pinnacle said the first quarter was hurt by a change in product mix. The company said following the completed shipment of the long-standing backlog of Apex drives, new orders for Apex were lower than expected for the quarter. Sales of Apex-based optical library systems and recordable CDs exceeded Pinnacle’s expectations.

The company said it took several steps to reduce operating expenses, including a 20% reduction in the work force and a reorganization of its European sales operations, and expects further improvements in cost reductions throughout 1997.

Pinnacle Micro provides recordable CD technology and optical storage systems for general data storage and data-intensive applications.