Heska closes 2002 on high note

FORT COLLINS — Heska Corp.’s (Nadsaq: HSKA) fourth-quarter financial results yielded the Fort Collins-based company’s best quarter ever with earnings of $1.08 million, or 2 cents per share.

In the three-month period ended Dec. 31, Heska improved its revenue by 25 percent — reaching $18.4 million in sales — and decreased its quarterly operating expenses from the prior year by 32 percent.

But the company’s year-end performance for 2002 still left it $8.67 million in the red, an 18-cent-per-share loss.

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“The financial results from the fourth quarter demonstrate what our company is capable of,´ said Robert Grieve, Heska’s chairman and CEO in a prepared statement. “In addition, our annual results showed a continued expansion in our gross margins.”

Heska develops, manufactures and markets veterinary products for dogs and cats. In addition to achieving its first quarterly profit, the company reached several other milestones in the fourth quarter.

The company signed a long-term agreement with Agri Laboratories, licensed recombinant allergens to Pharmacia for human diagnostic use, secured a patent for its flea genomics technology and its digital oxygen monitor for veterinarians hit the market.

Also, The Denver Business Journal recently selected Heska’s E.R.D. Screen Urine Test as the most innovative new product and the most innovative new medical product in the state for 2002.

“These results show progress in all the key financial metrics we target,” Grieve said, “A trend which we will strive to continue.”

At midday trading, Heska shares were down 4 percent, trading at 96 cents.