Newport Corp. is on pace for a record year as the Irvine-based laser maker puts last year’s troubles in the rearview mirror.
Chief Executive Robert Phillippy told the Business Journal in January that the company’s burgeoning line of products for the microelectronics market fueled optimism for a rebound this year after the federal government shutdown and sequestration tempered sales in 2013.
Newport Corp.’s sales dipped 6% last year to about $560 million.
It makes lasers and related controls and equipment for telecommunications companies, chipmakers, researchers, medical companies and manufacturers.
The company is coming off a strong second quarter, when it posted gains in all five business lines: scientific research, microelectronics, life and health sciences, defense and security, and industrial manufacturing.
It posted sales of $153.2 million and an adjusted profit $13.6 million, both beating Wall Street estimates.
New orders hit $149 million, up 14.2% from a year ago.
The company projects revenue in the current quarter of between $148 million and $153 million, an increase of 6.5% to 10% from the same period a year ago.
“We anticipate that our total sales for the second half of 2014 will be higher than both the first half of 2014 and the second half of 2013, which would result in all-time record sales for the year,” Phillippy said in a recent conference call.
Travel in Miniature
The worlds of art and technology aligned along the shores of Huntington Beach at an exhibit that debuted during the recent U.S. Open of Surfing.
Award-winning surf and adventure photographer Chris Burkard’s miniature art exhibit, “A Gallery for Ants,” was shot entirely with an olloclip lens created by the Huntington Beach-based company that bears the same name.
The shrunken, coin-sized images catalog Burkard’s travels using an olloclip lens attached to a mobile device. Visitors to the exhibit, which ran from July 31 to Aug. 3 at the Shorebreak Hotel, viewed the photos through an olloclip Macro 3-in-1 photo lens attached to an iPod Touch.
The accessory maker has grown rapidly from its humble beginnings in founder Patrick O’Neill’s kitchen, with annual sales of more than $11 million. It employs more than 50 people between its Huntington Beach and London offices.
The olloclip is sold in more than 90 countries through distribution deals with Apple, Best Buy and Target, among others.
ETAP in U.K.
Strong demand among transportation companies, large utilities, oil and gas producers, and grid operators led Irvine software maker Operation Technology Inc. to open a U.K. office last month.
The company, better known under its brand name ETAP, opened the central London office with a handful of employees to provide sales and technical support to customers.
“We have a large following in the U.K. and the region,” said Chief Operating Officer Shervin Shokooh. “There has always been a need for us to have feet on the ground.”
Nearly every nuclear power plant in the U.S. relies on ETAP’s software to manage its power system and prevent possible cataclysmic failures. Yet the segment accounts for only a small slice of the company’s 5,000-plus customers and estimated $50 million in annual sales.
