EECO Inc. 2nd-Quarter Profits Jump Sixfold

EECO Inc. of Santa Ana Wednesday reported that second-quarter profits jumped more than sixfold to $427,000 as revenues increased 14% to $13.6 million.

In the year-ago period, the manufacturer of electronic products and computer systems for the hotel industry had profits of $67,000 and revenues of $11.9 million.

For the first half of the year, EECO reported profits of $286,000, a 46% increase from the $196,000 reported a year earlier. Sales for the six-month period rose 21% to $26 million from $21.5 million.

Robert C. Milo, president and chief executive, attributed the strong second-quarter performance to cost-cutting efforts as well to attempts to concentrate on the company’s most profitable product lines.

Milo said, however, that he did not expect the profit gains to continue at the same rate for the remainder of the year. And he acknowledged that sales have started to show early signs of weakness. New orders for the second quarter, he said, totaled $12 million, a 12% decline from the $13.6 million recorded last year. The backlog as of June 30 was $20.1 million, 14% below that of the previous year.