Presstek reports another loss

Presstek Inc. cut its losses by more than half last quarter

Presstek Inc. cut its losses by more than half last quarter despite the continual decline in revenue due to both a shrunken economy and a shrinking market for print media.That still left the printing equipment company with a net loss of three-quarters of a million dollars (or 2 cents a share) for the second quarter, bringing the year-to-date losses to nearly $2 million, according to the company's earnings release on Wednesday.

That is, however, better than in 2011, when Presstek lost $1.7 million in the second quarter, and $3.2 million in its first half.The company — now headquartered in Connecticut but with substantial facilities in Hudson — did increase the sale of its digital printers, but because of lower ink and service sales from the discontinued chemical presses, total sales decreased by $1.7 million to $29.7 million.Presstek, however, had slashed its workforce last year, so expenses also went down by $2.3 million (21 percent) to $8.8 million.

The company would have actually made about $800,000 had it not been for expenses required by General Accepted Accounting Principals (GAAP) such as interest on debt, depreciation, amortization and equity compensation for its top executives.Despite the net loss in the first half, Presstek is in a slightly better cash position — $2.9 million in June 30 as opposed to $2.5 million at the start of the year — and it has also lowered its line of credit by about $3 million, thanks to shrinking its inventory by nearly $4 million, and being able to record revenue quicker: deferred revenue has dropped by about $700,000.

Stockholder equity is down by about $1.5 million to $37.8 million, but the market was upbeat about the report. The share price jumped from 39 cents to 45 cents on Wednesday, and reached as high as 52 cents Thursday. But that's still a far cry from the $1 per share the company needs to stay listed with the Nasdaq exchange.