Operating expenses for the Q1 2009 were $2.4 million compared to $1.9 million for the same period last year. The increase in operating expenses for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 is mostly attributable to the about $500,000 in research and development (“R&D”) costs for Abraxas and OIS, $300,000 of which are expenses and $200,000 is attributed to amortization. In the first quarter of 2008, Abraxas had $230,000 of R&D costs that were treated as an asset and not expensed because of accounting rules. Beginning in the first quarter of 2009, the company began selling these solutions and, as a result, started to expense these costs. In addition, starting January 1, 2009, OIS started to amortize R&D costs for Abraxas & OIS that had been previously capitalized.
The company reported $1.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and $5.3 million in total shareholders’ equity as of March 31, 2009.
“Our financial results for the quarter were negatively impacted by the global recession and personnel changes in our sales and marketing departments. While we are disappointed by our sales for the quarter, we are confident that demand for our ophthalmic WinStation digital imaging systems and Symphony Image Management systems are being suppressed by the recession, and that sales will increase once the economy recovers. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor operating costs and try to capitalize on changes in the ophthalmic market as quickly as possible,” stated Gil Allon, chief executive officer of OIS.
“Over the next year we expect to start seeing sales ramp up for our Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Practice Management (PM) solutions, which were launched in October 2008. These solutions include OIS branded EMR and PM solutions for ophthalmologists and Abraxas’ EMR and PM solutions for health professionals specializing in the OB/GYN, Orthopedic and Primary Care. By adding these solutions to our product line we not only diversify our business from digital imaging, but we also are expanding our reach beyond ophthalmology and are entering several new healthcare fields,” concluded Allon.
