Encision reports quarterly earnings

BOULDER – Medical device company Encision Inc. laid off four employees at the beginning of the month in connection with lower than anticipated earnings results.

Boulder-based Encision (ECIA: PK) recorded a net loss of $81,000 or negative 1 cent per share, for the most recent quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with net income of $234,000, or 4 cents per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010.

The company also recorded revenue of $3.167 million for the third-quarter ended Dec. 31, a 9 percent increase from the same three months in 2010.

Encision now has 58 employees on the payroll, said Marcia McHaffie, a company spokeswoman. The company makes laparoscopic surgery instruments designed to reduce the chance for patient injury in minimally invasive surgery.

Year-to-date, the company has faced higher material costs, higher unit overhead costs and a one-time charge of $430,000 in the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2011, for a voluntary recall of one of its electrode products.

“Clearly, we are disappointed in our third-quarter results,” Fred Perner, president and chief executive officer said in a statement regarding the latest earnings. “In the third quarter, we instituted a plan to focus on quality and our customers with the intention to increase our product revenue.”

The company saw an increase in December’s product revenue over the average product revenue of October and November, Perner said. As a result of reduced expenses, the company is well positioned to enter the next quarter and the next fiscal year, he said.