GT, Bottomline, PC Connection report higher earnings

Earning reports released last week by New Hampshire-based public companies show that most had a pretty good quarter and year.NHBR previously reported that Unitil had its best year ever. This is how three more companies say they fared.GT Advanced TechnologiesOne thing you can say about GT Advance Technologies — even when it’s having an off year, it does pretty well.The Merrimack maker of equipment and materials used to make solar cells and LED lighting reported it made $15.3 million, or 12 cents a share, in the second fiscal quarter ending Dec. 31. That compares with $66 million in the same quarter last year.Revenue also shrank to $153 million, compared to $217.7 last year and $262.9 million last quarter.Year to date, the company is also running a bit behind, with profits of $104 million and revenues of $601.8 million. The company said the main reason behind the slowdown was lower demand for photovoltaic furnaces, which might have something to do with a tariff war going on with China.GT said it that at the end of his quarter it will have a backlog of $1.7 billion.GT now has $207 million in cash and equivalents, and total assets of $1.2 billion. Bottomline TechnologiesBottomline Technologies beat expectations with a net income of $2.5 million (7 cents of share) for its second quarter, which ended Dec. 31 — about $400,000 more than it earned during the same quarter a year earlier.The Portsmouth-based payroll software company also reported $55.1 million in sales, a 24 percent increase.Much of the revenue, some $29.7 million, came through service and maintenance, but subscriptions and transactions were up by 46 percent, to $19 million.The second quarter almost made up for the first, when earnings declined, but Bottomline still posted $4.2 million in net income for the first six months of 2012, roughly $500,000 less than the first half of fiscal 2010. PC ConnectionPC Connection – the Merrimack-based technology equipment provider — posted a $7.4 million net income in the fourth quarter, or 28 cents a share, about $500,000 more than in the last quarter a year earlier.That brings net income for the year to $28.8 million, or $1.07 per share — a 25.4 percent increase.Revenues for the quarter were $553.2 million, roughly the same as the same quarter last year, and $2.1 billion for the year — a 6.5 percent increase.The biggest boost in quarterly sales came through sales of networking products, which increased $14 million.Among customers, large account sales rose by nearly $30 million, making up for falloffs in public sector and small business sales.The company recently also hired a new chief financial officer, 47-year-old Joseph Driscoll, who will replace retiring Jack Ferguson. on March 5.Driscoll, former CFO of Summer Infant Inc. and ACT Electronics Inc., will receive a base salary of $285,000, be eligible for half that amount in bonuses and be granted 20,000 restricted stock units.At the end of his first year, he will get a $40,000 signing bonus and his salary will increase to $325,000 a year. — BOB SANDERS/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW