Spire Corp. (Bedford, MA) reported financial results for the fourth quarter and for the year ended December 31, 2000. For the last quarter, total revenues were $2,368,000, a decrease of 12 percent from the fourth quarter of 1999. Solar energy revenues for that period were $937,000, compared to $914,000 for the same 1999 period. Revenues from its subsidiary, Spire Biomedical Inc., were $895,000, compared to $781,000 for the three months ended December 31, 1999. Fourth-quarter revenues from the remaining optoelectronics business, whose assets were sold on December 30, 1999, decreased to $536,000 from $984,000 for the same period ended 1999.
For the fourth quarter of 2000, net loss was $674,000, or $0.10 per share, compared with an operating loss of $1,811,000, or $0.24 per share, in the same year-earlier period. Net earnings for the fourth quarter of 1999, however, were $6,936,000, or $1.07 per share, reflecting a gain of $8,848,000, or $1.19 per share, from the sale of Spire's optoelectronics assets during the quarter.
For the year ended December 31, 2000, total revenues were $12,885,000, an increase of eight percent from the 1999 period. Spire's solar energy revenues for the year 2000 were $5,906,000, an increase of 53 percent, from $3,852,000 for the prior year. Revenues from Spire Biomedical increase 17 percent to $4,315,000 from $3,695,000 for 1999, while revenues from the optoelectronics business decrease 39 percent to $2,664,000, from $4,354,000 for the prior year.
For the year ended December 31, 2000, net loss was $800,000, or $0.12 per share, compared with an operating loss of $3,380,000, or $0.52 per share, in 1999. However, a gain of $8,848,000, or $1.36 per share, was recorded on the sale of Spire's optoelectronics assets in 1999.
President and CEO Roger Little commented, “The year 2000 was a transition year for Spire in which we focused on becoming a pure solar energy company by restructuring our biomedical business as a separate operating entity and phasing out of our optoelectronics activities. Supported by a rapidly growing demand for solar power, our solar energy business gained momentum during the year and grew 53 percent."
