UQM Technologies posts quarterly loss

FREDERICK – UQM Technologies Inc. (Amex: UQM), a Frederick-based developer of high-efficiency electric motors, posted a net loss for the quarter ending June 30.
The company’s net loss was $730,805 – or 3 cents per share – on revenue of $1,153,205 for the quarter. Revenue nearly doubled, compared to the same period last year, when UQM took in $683,996.
During the second quarter of 2004, the company lost $714,903, or 4 cents per share.
Company CFO Donald French attributed the most recent quarterly loss to lower profit margins on contract services and to expenses incurred during expansion of UQM’s engineering and manufacturing departments.
UQM last year fed on contracts to provide products to mass-transit and defense entities in the United States and abroad. For example, the company signed to provide electronic controllers for a hybrid-electric reconnaissance vehicle for the U.S. Marine Corps being developed by General Dynamics Corp.
A month later, UQM contracted with Waseda University in Japan – one of that country’s most prestigious technology centers – to provide its PowerPhase electric propulsion system for use in developing an electric transit-bus system.
News of those contracts helped drive UQM’s stock to a 52-week high of $4.65 in March 2004. In trading Thursday, UQM’s share price was $3.39, up 2 cents from its opening.
The company’s initial public offering in October 2000 netted a price of $8 per share.
On June 30, UQM completed a private placement of stock that raised its cash and short-term investment pool to $11.8 million.
The company employs 39 workers at its Frederick plant, where it produces electric motors, generators and electronic controllers for the automotive, aerospace, medical, military and industrial markets.
The company’s home on the Web is at www.uqm.com.