Distributors’ Inventory Cuts Spell Loss for Gish Biomedical

Gish Biomedical Inc., Irvine maker of disposable surgical products, posted a net loss of $311,100, or 9 cents a share, for the third fiscal quarter, compared with a net loss of $155,900, or 5 cents a share, a year ago. Sales for the quarter ended March 31 declined 12% to $4.5 million from $5.1 million.

For the first nine months of the fiscal year, the net loss totaled $453,300, or 13 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $102,600, or 3 cents a share, for the corresponding period last year. Sales were down 5% to $15 million from $15.8 million.

The company said the sales decline reflects lower sales to two distributors who were reducing their product inventory.