2/18/2003 6:27:00 AM
BOTHELL, Wash., Feb 18, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Microvision, Inc.
(Nasdaq:MVIS), a leader in light scanning technologies, today announced that it
expects to report record fiscal year revenue of $15.9 million, an increase of
48% over fiscal year 2001, and revenue of $3.2 million for the fourth quarter of
2002.
Gross profit for 2002 is expected to be $8.9 million, up 92% from $4.7 million
in 2001. Revenue in 2002 was derived from ongoing work on development contracts
with the U.S. military, development contracts with commercial partners, sales of
the Nomad Augmented Vision System, and development contracts at its Lumera
subsidiary. Fourth quarter revenue was lower than expected due, in part, to the
delays in ramping production of the Flic bar code scanner and delays in signing
certain development contracts at Microvision and Lumera. Both companies have
subsequently signed these contracts. Also subsequent to year-end, Microvision
entered into an OEM agreement with NCR for distribution of the Flic bar code
scanner under the NCR brand and has begun ramping to volume production. The
company indicated that it expects first quarter of 2003 revenue to materially
increase over the fourth quarter of 2002 with revenue coming from ongoing and
new development contracts from both military and commercial customers and
product sales from Flic and Nomad.
The company’s cost reduction efforts in 2002 have resulted in lower expenses and
a significantly lower net loss. The company expects to report a consolidated net
loss of approximately $.46 per share for the fourth quarter and a consolidated
net loss of approximately $1.93 per share for 2002. Research and development
expense is expected to be approximately $25.5 million for 2002 and marketing,
general and administrative expense is expected to be approximately $16.8
million. The company ended the year with cash of $15.2 million, total assets of
approximately $32.3 million and stockholder’s equity of approximately $17.4
million.
“We made significant progress in 2002, as measured by our expected record
revenue, outstanding gross profit contributions and reduced operating and net
losses. We also introduced the company’s first commercial products during 2002
and secured key relationships with industry leaders in several product
categories,” said Microvision CEO Rick Rutkowski. “We successfully completed the
first phase of a development effort with a leading Asian company and achieved
significant technical milestones associated with the development of unique
cost-effective display solutions for digital cameras and camcorders and other
high volume consumer electronics applications. We expect to report continued
developments relating to these efforts during the current quarter. We began the
commercial launch of the Flic bar code scanner product in the fourth quarter,
and we continue to take orders for the product, and sign distribution agreements
including our recently reported OEM agreement with NCR. We have seen our work on
automotive displays progress rapidly in the new year with new development
contracts with BMW, a second European automaker and a Tier 1 auto supplier. We
believe that we are well positioned to continue this momentum and build on it in
2003 and beyond.”
The company will host a conference call to discuss its 2002 financial results
and will be announcing the date, time and call-in details in a future release.
About Microvision: www.mvis.com
Headquartered in Bothell, WA, Microvision Inc. is the developer of the patented
retinal scanning display technology and a world leader in micro miniature
optical scanning technology for display and imaging applications. The company’s
technology has applications in a broad range of military, medical, industrial,
professional and consumer information products. Nomad is a trademark of
Microvision, Inc.
About Lumera: www.mvis.com
As a subsidiary of Microvision, Inc., Lumera is a world leader in the
development of electro-optic devices based on proprietary optical polymers. The
company plans to deliver superior and unique component solutions to optical
systems suppliers. Lumera plans to supply standard and custom components to
systems providers in multiple high-growth product categories.
Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer
Certain statements contained in this release, including expected year-end
results, projections of future revenues, plans for product development, and
future operations, as well as statements containing words like “believes,”
“expects,” and other similar expressions, are forward-looking statements that
involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those projected in the company’s
forward-looking statements include the following: our ability to raise
additional capital when needed; market acceptance of our technologies and
products; our financial and technical resources relative to those of our
competitors; our ability to keep up with rapid technological change; our
dependence on the defense industry and a limited number of government
development contracts; government regulation of our technologies; our ability to
enforce our intellectual property rights and protect our proprietary
technologies; the ability to obtain additional contract awards; the timing of
commercial product launches; the ability to achieve key technical milestones in
key products; potential product liability claims and other risk factors
identified from time to time in the company’s SEC reports, including our most
recently filed Registration Statement on Form S-3 . Except as expressly required
by the federal securities, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or
revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, changes circumstances or any other reason.
CONTACT:
Microvision, Inc.
Brian Heagler, 425/415-6794 (Investors)
brian_heagler@mvis.com
or
Matt Nichols, 425/415-6657 (Media)
matt_nichols@mvis.com
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