Jump in Sales Sends Odetics Net Up 51% to $3.7 Million

Odetics Inc., a maker of high-technology data storage products, said Tuesday that its net income for its latest fiscal year rose 51% to $3.7 million, or 55 cents a share, compared to earnings of $2.45 million, or 40 cents a share for the previous fiscal year.

Sales for the year ended March 31 jumped 35% to $140.8 million from the previous fiscal year’s sales of $104.6 million.

Odetics Chairman Joel Slutzky, calling the results “very rewarding,” said the company received a boost by selling 17% of its ATL Products subsidiary in an initial public offering. He said the company plans to spin off the remaining shares to Odetics shareholders and to put other divisions on the same path.

The offering gave ATL Products, which makes automated tape libraries, or backup storage, the capital it needs to grow, Slutzky said, and it enabled Odetics to reduce its debt to its lowest level in three years.

For the fourth quarter, Odetics’ earnings fell 22%. It posted net income of $861,000, or 12 cents a share, compared to $1.1 million, or 18 cents a share for last year’s fourth quarter. Sales for the final three months ended March 31 rose 28% to $40.1 million from $31.3 million.