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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowHurco Cos. Inc. suffered a loss of $1.8 million in its first fiscal quarter as manufacturers continued to cut back on capital purchases, the Indianapolis-based machine tool maker announced Thursday morning.
The loss in the period ended Jan. 31 contrasted against a $354,000 profit a year earlier.
Revenue fell 27 percent, to $20.6 million.
Manufacturers have dramatically curtailed machine tool purchases during the global recession, Hurco said. And credit market woes have also prevented some companies from obtaining financing for Hurco products.
Hurco produces interactive computer controls, software and computerized machine tools for the worldwide metal-cutting industry.
Economic conditions have been particularly bad in European, where Hurco sells many of its higher-priced products. European accounted for 58 percent of sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2010, compared to 64 percent in the same quarter of 2009 and 74 percent in the first quarter of 2008.
North American orders declined by 33 percent over last year’s quarter, to $2.8 million.
One bright spot for Hurco was a 413-percent quarter-over-quarter rise in orders in the Asia Pacific region, to $2.5 million.
Hurco shares were priced at $18.71 cents this morning before trading started.
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