14 May 1998: SpecTran Corp., a maker of glass optical fibres and fibre-optic products, said that price weakness and oversupply hurt its first quarter.
“We believe the problems of price weakness and o…
14 May 1998: SpecTran Corp., a maker of glass optical fibres and fibre-optic products, said that price weakness and oversupply hurt its first quarter. “We believe the problems of price weakness and oversupply are likely to be relatively short-lived in light of the strong underlying growth in demand for optical fibres,” the company said in a news release accompanying first quarter results. “Our goal is a double-digit increase in revenues for the year,” SpecTran said. SpecTran reported first quarter net income of US$ 864,000, down from US$ 1.12 million for the 1997 first quarter. Revenues fell to US$ 15.23 million from US$ 16.23 million. SpecTran president and chief executive officer Charles Harrison said first quarter results were hit by tough competition in the standard communication fibre market, caused by a supply/demand imbalance and exacerbated by unsettled economic conditions in Asia. Much of the fibre revenue decline was offset by revenue increases at the company“s specialty optics unit, as well as an “improved product mix” at the communication fibre technologies unit, Harrison said.