TULSA, Okla. - Marine electronics manufacturer Lowrance Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEIX) reported a net sales increase of 11 percent to $88, 297,000 for the year ended July 31, compared to $79,501,000 for the same period of the previous year, according to a statement from the company today.
Lowrance, a designer and manufacturer of global positioning system satellite products, also reported record net income for the year ended July 31 of $4,931,000, or $1.27 per diluted share, more than double net income of $2,389,000, or $0.63 per diluted share, for the same period last year.
"Lowrance's strong new-product development cycle, which featured 28 new products and more than doubled our record new product introductions in 2002, included six new stand-alone GPS units and 22 new SONAR and combination SONAR/GPS products ranging from $79 to $2,499," said Darrell Lowrance, president and CEO. "These new, higher margin products helped raise gross profits 25 percent to $37,261,000 from $29,926,000 in fiscal 2002. Gross profit also increased to 42-percent of sales compared to 38-percent of sales last year. Our rapid introduction of new high-value products was supported by higher sales and advertising expenditures and a 50-percent increase in fiscal 2003 research and development expenses."
Lowrance said that the investments in research and development will allow for the company to introduce and deliver more new products this fiscal year than it did for fiscal 2003.
"By the end of calendar 2004, we expect to include multi-purpose boat networking capabilities, utilizing both NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) 2000 and Lowrance Ethernet, in nearly all non-portable SONAR and GPS products," added Lowrance.