Flow International posts fiscal 1st-quarter loss

KENT, Wash. (AP) — Flow International Corp., which makes high-pressure waterjet machines to cut and clean industrial materials, on Tuesday reported a loss for its fiscal first quarter, as charges and slumping sales weighed down results.

The company said it lost $8.5 million, or 23 cents per share, in the three months ended July 31. That compares with net income of $1.6 million, or 4 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.

The latest quarter included $6 million in pretax charges related to the termination of its planned acquisition of rival Omax Corp., severance and other cost reduction efforts, among other items. Excluding those one-time charges, losses would have totaled $2.7 million, or 7 cents per share.

Revenue slid 34 percent to $37.8 million from $57.1 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected a slightly smaller adjusted loss of 6 cents per share on higher revenue of $38.4 million. Those estimates typically exclude one-time items.

"The pace of recovery remains slow in certain markets, but we have made many cost reductions this year that we expect to positively impact our results throughout fiscal 2010," Charley Brown, the company's president and CEO, said in a statement.

Shares ofFlow slid 11 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $2.35 in after-hours trading, having closed earlier unchanged at $2.46.