10/28/2003 7:34:00 AM
New Contract Awards Already Top $3 Million for the Fourth Quarter with
Additional Awards Expected
BOTHELL, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct. 28, 2003– Microvision, Inc. (Nasdaq:MVIS), a leader in light scanning
technologies, today announced that it expects to report 2003 third
quarter revenue of $2.6 million. The company had previously reported
that it expected the 2003 third quarter to show some weakness, citing
uncertainty regarding the timing of new contracts some of which were
then under negotiation. The company announced today that in the first
weeks of the current quarter, it has already booked over $3 million in
new commercial contracts, including our largest contract yet with
Canon, and anticipates additional bookings during the quarter.
“The third quarter saw a number of important developments: the
award of a letter of intent from Honda to purchase 3,800 Nomad units,
the $600,000 purchase by the U.S. Army of 100 Nomad units for delivery
in the fourth quarter, an award by Volkswagen for delivery of
automotive display prototypes, and breakthroughs for Lumera in the
application of its technology for smart antennae,” said CEO Rick
Rutkowski.
“We were originally targeting third quarter revenue in the $3.5
million plus range, but about $850k of that revenue will now slip into
the fourth quarter. As a consequence, we expect to see a spike in the
current quarter to about $4.6 million or higher. We generally want to
avoid the kind of variability in revenue that we are seeing between
the third quarter and the current quarter, but we are pleased that we
should be able to capture, in the fourth quarter, revenue that slipped
from the third quarter without impacting our other planned activities.
Contract bookings and billings in both defense and commercial arena
are looking very solid for this quarter and the first half of next
year.
“We have a lot of commercial contracts in the pipeline for this
quarter and next, and are likely to have one of our strongest quarters
yet for commercial contract activity in this 2003 fourth quarter. As
is the case with Canon, we are seeing our commercial development
partners in several product categories plan for increasing financial
commitments as we progress in stages toward the goal of commercial
production in each case.
“New bookings for defense-related contracts are also promising for
this quarter and for the first half of next year. Funding for our
existing Virtual Cockpit Program has already been appropriated and is
up substantially compared to last year. A new program has also been
funded to advance development of a second display solution for
helicopter pilots. We currently anticipate that both of these
contracts will be awarded late in the first quarter or early in the
second quarter of next year.
“We expect the momentum that is now underway in the fourth quarter
to continue into the first quarter of 2004 and throughout the year.
Our outlook for 2004 revenue targets sequential growth driven by
product sales, specifically by strong revenue growth associated with
sales of the Nomad display to American Honda and others. We continue
to be pleased with the enthusiastic response of Honda and Acura
dealers and service technicians to the product, and we are responding
to growing and broader interest within the automotive maintenance
category. We continue to target a mid-first quarter ship date for our
next generation Nomad display.”
The company will host a conference call to discuss its third
quarter financial results and will be announcing the date, time and
call-in details in a future release.
About Microvision: www.microvision.com
Headquartered in Bothell, Wash., Microvision Inc. is the world
leader in the development of high-resolution displays and imaging
systems based on the company’s proprietary silicon micro-mirror
technology. The company’s technology has applications in a broad range
of military, medical, industrial, professional and consumer products.
Microvision has been working with Canon, BMW, the Electronics
Research Lab of Volkswagen of America, Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon
Endo Surgery subsidiary, Honda and others to develop a number of
display and image capture product applications based on its
proprietary scanned beam technology.
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;
competitive and other factors affecting product sales; 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., Bothell
Brian Heagler (investors)
brian_heagler@mvis.com
Matt Nichols (media)
matt_nichols@mvis.com
SOURCE: Microvision, Inc.