Presstek records $10.6m loss for 2010

Presstek posted another loss in its last quarter and for the entire year, though it was not as bad as 2009, when the company wrote off $19 million in goodwill.Even without the write-off, however, the company posted a net loss of $6.7 million, or 18 cents a share, for the quarter and $10.6 million for the year, 29 cents a share. Revenue fell 7 percent to $31 million for the quarter and down 4 percent to $128.6 million for the year. The assets are now down to $81 million, a $23 million decline, while liabilities declined $15 million, resulting in equity of $49 million, about $8 million less than a year ago.While Presstek’s $10 million-plus losses for the year are an improvement over the $50 million bloodletting it suffered in 2009 are partially due to the $19 million goodwill write-off in 2009, the quarterly loss of $6.7 million was a $5.5 million jump from the last quarter of 2009.Presstek blamed some of those fourth-quarter losses to a $1.9 million increase in bad debt reserve, as well as an $800,000 increase in equity compensation to its top executives. But it was also partially due to a $2.4 million revenue decline, a $2.3 million increase in general and administrative operating expenses.Presstek, of course, emphasized the positive: when a variety of factors were taken into consideration, it improved its financial position compared to last year; it reduced its debt net of cash to $6.1 million, a 50 percent of reduction: it successfully sold off its money-losing Lasertel business; and it introduced a new digital offset press that made its first three sales.”We feel we have accomplished much this year in a very difficult economy and in particular a difficult one for our industry,” Presstek’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, Jeff Jacobson. — BOB SANDERS/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW