Key Technology Announces Fiscal 2012 Second Quarter Results

WALLA WALLA, Wash., Apr 26, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Key Technology, Inc. KTEC
-2.45% announced
today sales and operating results for the second quarter of fiscal 2012 ended March 31, 2012.

Net sales for the three-month period ended March 31, 2012 totaled $27.2 million, compared to $27.9 million recorded in the corresponding quarter last year. The Company reported a net loss for the quarter of $726,000, or $0.13 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $71,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, in the same period a year ago.

Net sales for the six-months ended March 31, 2012 were $53.2 million, compared with $56.1 million for the comparable period in fiscal 2011. The Company reported a net loss for the fiscal 2012 six-month period ended March 31, 2012 of $969,000, or $0.18 per diluted share, compared to net earnings of $533,000, or $0.10 per diluted share, for the corresponding six-month period in fiscal 2011.

David Camp, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Net sales and the results of operations were unfavorably affected by the postponement of two shipments due to customer-requested delays. These orders, totaling over $2.5 million, will ship in the third fiscal quarter of 2012. The Company anticipates that net sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2012 will be significantly higher than in the second quarter of fiscal 2012."

Key's backlog at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2012 was $34.7 million, compared to $38.2 million one year ago. New orders received during the second quarter were $24.9 million, compared to $34.3 million in the corresponding period last year. New orders for the six months ended March 31, 2012 were $51.5 million, compared to $59.2 million for the corresponding period in fiscal 2011.

Camp continued, "Orders and backlog thus far in fiscal 2012 are below the results achieved during the comparable periods in fiscal 2011. The Company believes certain of its markets have been in a slow period for new capital investment. However, we are experiencing substantial quote activity for potential large-scale projects in these markets."

The gross profit for the second quarter of fiscal 2012 was $7.9 million, compared to $8.1 million in the corresponding period last year. As a percentage of sales, gross profit was 29.1% and 29.2% in the second quarters of fiscal 2012 and 2011, respectively. For the six-month period ended March 31, 2012, gross profit was $16.5 million, compared to $17.5 million for the same six-month period of fiscal 2011, or 31.0% and 31.1% of sales, respectively.

Camp further commented, "Gross margins in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 declined from the first quarter of fiscal 2012 due to the comparative product mix. The Company anticipates gross margin improvement for the third quarter of fiscal 2012."

Operating expenses for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 were $8.7 million, or 32.0% of sales, compared to $8.1 million, or 29.0% of sales, in the same quarter last year. Operating expenses for the six-months ended March 31, 2012 were $17.5 million, or 32.8% of sales, compared to $16.5 million, or 29.5% of sales, for the corresponding period of fiscal 2011. The modest increase in operating expenses compared with the prior year relates to research and development spending.

Camp concluded, "The Company believes its commitment to new product development and strategic initiatives provides a significant driver for future revenue growth, as evidenced by our previously announced multi-million-dollar order in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 for our recently-released VEO(TM) system."

Conference Call

The Company's conference call related to the fiscal 2012 second quarter results can be heard live on the Internet at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, April 26, 2012. To access the audio webcast, go to http://www.key.net/investors/investor-events/default.html at least fifteen minutes prior to the call to download and install any necessary audio software.

About Key Technology

Key Technology, Inc., headquartered in Walla Walla, Washington, is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of process automation systems for the food processing, industrial and pharmaceutical markets. The Company's products integrate electro-optical inspection and sorting, specialized conveying and product preparation equipment, which allows processors to improve quality, increase yield and reduce cost. Key has manufacturing facilities in Washington, Oregon, and the Netherlands, and worldwide sales and service coverage.

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations or beliefs and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this release address future financial and operating results.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements:

Hollywood flick 'The Avengers' has a Lucknow connection

LUCKNOW: Rashmi Rustagi from the city is over the moon after sharing the screen with Oscar-nominated Mark Ruffalo in the Hollywood ultimate action flick 'The Avengers'. The movie also stars the likes of Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson.

Rashmi, who is a popular name in Los Angeles' theatre cicuit, has also starred in many crossover Bollywood films, plays, commercials and entertainment shows. Migrated to USA over three decades ago, her heart still beats for the city. "My parents lived in Indiranagar. They died two years ago," she says. But the Lucknow connection is still intact as her siblings and relatives are based here. "She last visited Lucknow in November 2011.

In The Avengers, she plays the role of a Kolkata woman visited by Bruce Banner (played by Ruffolo), who metamorphoses into The Hulk. Starring in such a big banner is kind of dream come true for her and she owes her rise to her theatre and radio roots.

Rashmi started acting for radio and stage shows at an early age of nine. Lucknow, she says, with its rich culture and opportunities provided her the ideal platform to hone the talent. The actress gets nostalgic while recalling her days at Christ Church College and Avadh Girls' Degree College. "I have many friends in the city since I studied here," she adds. And, she still gets her clothes stitched from her favourite tailor in Janpath. "I have been doing this for past 35 years," she says.

The mother of four says her family has always been supportive of her acting career. Talking about her career, she says, "Though The Avengers is my first Hollywood film, I have also done many feature and short films." In Bollywood, she has starred in Perfect Mismatch, which was shot in Los Angeles a few years ago. "I played Boman Irani's wife in it. Anupam Kher was also in the movie," she says.

The Lucknow-born actress has also acted in Punjabi feature film called Khanda, which was a story of a Sikh taxi driver who gets killed in US after 9/11.

"I played the role of driver's widow and the story revolves around me and my son, and how we come to terms with the life after the tragedy," she adds. Rashmi also has in her kitty Telugu film Karma. "I still remember how difficult it was to learn Telugu," she says.

Besides acting, Rashmi has also produced a short film Love by Chance in which she played a middle-aged divorced Indian woman in America who falls in love with a younger man. In Hollywood TV show Trauma she enacted a Muslim woman.

Having worked in Hollywood, she says there are not many parts written for Indian actors in English movies. "But, now the trend is changing," she says.

Avengers special screening for Aamir Khan

With only a few days to go before his TV debut with Satyamev Jayate, Aamir Khan is a busy man. And that explains his absence from the recently held premiere of Hollywood superhero flick The Avengers in the city.

Organised by UTV Motion Pictures, which is marketing and

distributing the
film in
India, the event was attended by eminent names from the film industry. However, Aamir will watch the film with his family at a special screening that will be organised by the distributers this weekend. “He will be busy shooting for Satyamev Jayate until April 27, so the screening will be held on April 28 or April 29, depending upon his availability,” says a source from the distributing company.

Shikha Kapur, senior vice president of UTV Motion Pictures confirmed the plan, “There are also a couple of very special friends who could not make it because of prior commitments. We are happy to hold a special screening for them and their families,” she says.

The Tuesday premiere was attended by filmmakers Ashutosh Gowariker, Abhinay Deo, Sajid Khan, Nikhil Advani and Sudhir Mishra. Actors Neha Dhupia, Ranveer Shorey and Sara-Jane Dias, Neha were also spotted at the do.

The Avengers, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, brings together various
iconic characters like Iron Man, Captain America and Nick Fury, played by actors Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Samuel L Jackson, respectively. The film will hit theatres in India on April 27.

Enzyme technology to purify water bodies

KOCHI: In a bid to clean up the contaminated and clogged water bodies of the city, the Kochi Corporation will launch the ‘Sanctify Cochin’ project, using enzymes for purification on a trial basis for 22 days, starting Thursday. Kochi is the first city in the country to adopt enzyme technology, which is provided by the London-based Caringfornature.com.

The first experiment will be conducted in the highly neglected Ernakulam Market Canal. Through the project the authorities aim to de-clog the canal which has become stagnant after years of waste dumping.

The enzymes are said to be natural concentrates of minerals and nutrient-rich plant extracts produced through a carefully controlled fermentation process. Different formulations of natural enzymes will be used for the experiments.

“If successful, this could be a huge breakthrough and will help reduce the acute stench in Brahmapuram and other landfill sites across the city,” said Mayor Tony Chammany.

Among the projected utilities of the enzymes are the treatment of sewage systems and septic tanks, odour elimination from the Brahmapuram waste management site and decomposition of bio-degradable waste.

The enzyme technology has been successfully launched in 38 countries, including China, Brazil and South Africa, according to a statement released by the Kochi Corporation.

On Thursday, a tonne of waste will be brought to Padiyathkulam. A 10-member team comprising the public, the Health Dept and various departments of the Corporation will record the intensity of the odour before and after the trial.

James Cameron and his longtime partner Vince Pace have been working together on 3-D for years, but with their Cameron Pace Group, the two are hoping to revolutionize the 3-D video market.

I got a chance to sit down with Cameron and Pace at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas this week, and asked about the future of 3-D in the home, how their effort is making 3-D accessible to other directors and production teams, and how the industry overcomes its chicken-and-egg problem: How do you get consumers interested in 3-D TV while getting broadcasters on board with shooting in 3-D?

GigaOM: So can you tell me how Cameron Pace Group came together? Why did you decide to productize this and make this available to other partners?

James Cameron: Vince and I worked together for the first time in 1988. We got together in 1999 to start building an HD and 3-D system. We went to Sony, Panavision and different partners… We made our first system in 2000, and we first started using it for documentary films, primarily. Vince started to pursue sports and music, that sort of thing in ’03, ’04. Then the movie stuff started to take off and we first served up the first features – they were the only features being done in 3-D.

It just snowballed from there. When I came off the end of Avatar, we decided to make it more of an official partnership and we announced that last year. But really, we’ve never been off-track from trying to grow the 3-D market and grow the technology.

Vince Pace: During that time, it wasn’t a commitment to do a film, but to create a filmmaker’s tool. It wasn’t focused on a singular need. From the very beginning of the relationship headed toward this, it was really about, ‘How do we provide this to the industry to get this resolved?”

James Cameron: I think it held us back for a while, because people thought I was building this for myself and it wasn’t really available. I was like, ‘No, no, no. We’re building this industry – it doesn’t help me to make a 3-D film if there are no 3-D theaters.’

The two of us can’t make enough content to twitch the needle. We’ve got to be the enablers for everybody else. We’ve got to put the tools in their hands. There are all these perceived barriers to entry for people that are established content makers looking to shift to 3-D. We’re not really interested in people who’ve only done 3-D and are trying to grow that. We want to go to the A-listers, the established people and get them to transform into 3-D makers as painlessly as possible.

GigaOM: Why are you so passionate about 3-D? What is it about the technology?

James Cameron: It’s so intuitively obvious to me that it’s the way entertainment needs to be consumed, that I’m almost shocked when I have to back up and explain it. I find it’s better to just say, ‘Come look at this – isn’t that cool?’ Because if you think it’s cool, chances are other people think it’s cool. So we just stumbled off and started doing it.
GigaOM: So tell me about that. I know so much of your focus has been on shooting in native 3-D and you’ve been critical of others who have shot in 2-D and then retrofit movies to be 3-D. Why do that with Titanic?

James Cameron: There are two very distinct categories there. There are movies that are done, and are out and we love them and we’d love to see them in 3-D and the only way to do that is to convert.

Then there are movies that are starting now, and they want it to be in 3-D, because they want the extra revenue. And the studios believe that these are tentpole movies–they’re big entertainment films and big effects films–so they should be in 3-D, but they’re not willing to do it right.

At that point, they’ve got a choice. They can shoot native, or they can shoot 2-D and convert. I’m adamantly against shooting in 2-D and converting. But I’m certainly very much in favor of converting films that are already done. You don’t have a choice on those. You don’t have a choice on Raging Bull or The Godfather. You have a choice with Spiderman 5.

I see the same dumbass decision being made over and over. They get to that precipice and it’s all too scary. It’s just all too hard. Well, the only reason it’s scary and hard is that they don’t understand it and they haven’t asked the right questions. Usually they’re so afraid of asking the right questions and looking like an idiot. Everyone’s afraid of looking like an idiot. That’s what it boils down to.

So you’ve got a director that’s directed 20 films and a producer that’s produced 40 films, and they don’t want to come in and be a dumbass and ask one stupid question. They’re going into a new area called 3-D. And then you have all these 3-D practitioners on the other side telling them that they don’t know anything about 3-D and they absolutely need 3-D experts to be there.

That’s why Vince and I have completely turned that around. We say, ‘You don’t have to know anything about 3-D. Just do what you do. Do what you do, and do it with our toolset, and you’re going to be fine.’ You can’t add value in one area and take it away in another. That’s what filmmakers are afraid of. They worry that they’re going to have to compromise their style to shoot in 3-D.

What I’m saying is, keep 100 percent of your style. Give up nothing. Add 3-D to it. And only add 3-D when it makes sense. If you don’t like it for a shot, or you don’t like it for a scene, you turn it down. 3-D is like music. You don’t run music wall-to-wall throughout a movie. You bring it in, you take it out. You are in control, as a filmmaker you are aesthetically in control.
Well guess what, people did think it was cool, and the two highest-grossing films in history, both of them over $2 billion, are both 3-D films. Titanic just recently joined the club, but it just recently passed $2 billion as well as a result of that.
 GigaOM: When you look at the TV market – for theatrical it obviously makes sense. But you talk about the chicken-and-egg problem in the living room. There’s not enough content, but there’s also not enough people with 3DTVs. How do you solve that?

James Cameron: We’ve got another missing piece, which is – there’s only DirecTV and Comcast carrying 3-D and that’s only on a limited basis. The TV sets are well out there – there’s good penetration with the sets. And most people buying TVs are buying them with 3-D like it or not at this point.

I think that we’ve got to reach a certain level of the amount of content. And I also think it has to be about the type of content. Sports works because people tune in to watch the specific games that they want to see. I think scripted dramatic will work because people tune in to see the show that they want.

Personally, my theory is that network is not the answer to distribution. I think it’s going to be about tablets, and I think it’s going to be about streaming. I think it’s going to be all the other ways to get your 3-D because the network paradigm is too mired in the past. These guys just aren’t paying attention.

The other thing is that people are streaming their movies and television to a tablet, then it’s auto-stereoscopic. You don’t need glasses. So if you’re sitting on a bus, sitting on a plane, sitting in the park or in your room and you’re watching something on a single user screen and you don’t need glasses, you can toggle back and forth between 2-D and 3-D content, no problem.

GigaOM: From a network infrastructure perspective, is there enough bandwidth to support streaming 3-D?

James Cameron: There’s certainly no bandwidth issue. If you’re carrying an HD signal, you can carry a 3-D signal. They subdivide the 3-D picture into two half HD pictures to get recombined into a full 3-D stream. Ultimately we’d like to get to dual stream HD, just because it looks better. But we’d like to get to 4K, too. I think at the point where we move to 4K, we can do dual-stream HD.

I think the push to 4K will give us the bandwidth to do full, dual stream HD. We don’t need that right now. We have plenty of delivery systems right now that can carry an HD picture. If you can carry HD you can carry 3-D. Especially for smaller screens.

Where you really need full HD is delivery to theaters. The pay-per-view theater model really requires that, but it’s double the bandwidth. So we’re driving toward that. But it’s always 18 months away, as you know.

Brangelina and brood jet off to Galapagos Islands to Last Updated: Thursday, April 19, 2012, 15:52 Tags: Brangelina, Galapagos Islands, Brangelina`s engagement 0 celebrate engagement

London: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and their brood are said to be enjoying a break in the exotic location of Galapagos Islands to celebrate the couple’s engagement.




Since the Hollywood A-list family likes to travel, so it’s no surprise to see them on holiday in an exotic location.

“We were informed that they arrived at the airport in Baltra yesterday, then they made their way over to a villa in the Galapagos Islands,” the Daily Mail quoted a source in the mayor’s office of Santa Cruz as telling People magazine.

The website also reported that the eight-strong family travelled by private jet and luxury yacht to get to the exclusive Royal Palm Hotel resort where they are said to be staying.

Locals even posted pictures of the brood arriving at their holiday destination on Twitter.

ANI

Apple's earning result looms large for technology sector and market

NEW YORK: When Apple's shares fall, is Wall Street's entire performance at risk?

The outsize influence of Apple on both the technology sector and the entire stock market was thrown into sharp relief when the iPad maker's shares fell 4.1 percent on Monday. a The alpha male of the stock market, Apple accounts for a third of the S&P tech sector's 20 percent year-to-date return, the best performance of any of the 10 sectors in the Standard & Poor's 500 index this year.

The problem is, Apple's success may be masking a larger trend in the wider market toward slower profit growth.

Technology companies are expected to report earnings growth of 7.5 percent for the first quarter, according to Thomson Reuters estimates. But excluding Apple, which is due to report results next Tuesday, the technology sector is looking at an earnings decrease of 0.3 percent, according to the data.

"It seems like every quarter, every year, everyone is predicting technology is this great group, and recently, without Apple it would never be there," said Daniel Morgan, who helps manage about $3.5 billion at Synovus Trust Company in Atlanta. Synovus Trust's assets include about 30,000 Apple shares.

Big tech companies that have already reported this quarter have done little to inspire Wall Street. Google reported in-line revenue last week, while International Business Machines and Intel Corp results reported late Tuesday failed to ignite buying. All three stocks ended lower on Wednesday.

Still to come are results from Microsoft, due Thursday, and Texas Instruments, expected on Monday.

In addition to earnings, another key performance measure are company profit margins, an indication of how much control a company has over its costs. Profit margins are higher for tech companies than for any other sector in the S&P 500 sectors, but much of that advantage is a result of Apple.

For the first quarter, the net profit margin for the tech sector is estimated at 17 percent. That falls to 15.7 percent when Apple is excluded, Thomson Reuters data showed, enough to push technology into the second spot, after the financial sector .

It's a similar story for revenue Tech sector revenue growth is estimated at 6.7 percent. Without Apple? It's just 2.3 percent, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Apple's stock accounts for 4.5 percent of the S&P 500 index, a weighting not seen by any company since 1999, when Microsoft Corp had a 4.9 percent weighting. Apple is the largest holding for many money managers, to say nothing of the billions of dollars in index funds of which Apple is a core holding.

Apple's massive market capitalization, which stands at $566 billion after hitting $600 billion earlier this month, means that the company's impact on the market has been "enormous," S&P analyst Howard Silverblatt said.

Apple stock is up about 50 percent for the year so far, helping the S&P 500 to a rise of about 10 percent. Among stocks in the S&P, its performance is ranked sixth so far this year, and most of those that have out-performed Apple, such as Netflix , are rebounding from big losses in 2011. Not Apple.

"If you were not in Apple in the first quarter, you were hurting. Options on it are extremely expensive," Silverblatt said.

Year-over-year profit growth for S&P 500 companies slowed from 18 percent in the third quarter of last year to 9.2 percent in the fourth quarter. It is estimated at 4.4 percent in the first quarter, Thomson Reuters data showed.

China's smartphone firms warned of patent disputes

Beijing: China's smartphone companies are at risk of becoming embroiled in disputes over intellectual property rights since many important patents are held by international companies like Google and Microsoft, experts have said.
In 2005, international mobile phone-makers occupied over half the Chinese market. But in 2011, China shipped 455 million mobile phones, among which domestic brands made up 72 percent.
Telecommunications experts have warned Chinese companies that they may be hit with charges of violating intellectual property rights, the China Daily reported.
The Mobile Terminal White Paper, issued by the China Academy of Telecommunication Research, a branch under the ministry of industry and information technology, said China shipped more than 110 million smartphones in 2011.
"As more Chinese mobile phones pour into the global market, it is much more likely that international rivals will use intellectual property rights as a weapon in competition," said Xu Zhiyuan, an engineer at the China Academy of Telecommunication Research.
"Chinese companies should watch out," the daily quoted him as saying.
China is the world's largest producer of mobile devices. In 2011, it produced 1.13 billion mobile devices, including mobile phones and tablet computers.
The report said domestic brands like ZTE Corp, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Lenovo Group Ltd have made significant progress in producing mobile phones.
ZTE's mobile device business earned around 27 billion yuan (over $4 billion) in 2011.

New German technology coaches add comfort, space to Rajdhani Express

AHMEDABAD: Your trip to Delhi by train just got a whole lot better. The Swarn Jayanti Rajdhani Express to Delhi has been facilitated with new coaches which are based on new German technology, the Linke Holfmann Bush (LHB).
According to railway officials, the coaches provide more comfort and safety to the passengers. The officials said that recently passengers of Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express had a miraculous escape owing to the high safety standards of LHB coaches, which got stuck to the ground soon after the derailment. The conventional coaches have a tendency to skid, causing more injuries and damage.
The Rajdhani on an average will now be able to accommodate around 120-odd more passengers daily. Senior public relation officer Jitendra Kumar Jayant said that the Rajdhani with the new LHB coaches made its first run from the city on Friday.
He said that apart from the routine comfort, these coaches have the capacity to accommodate about 72 passengers in each AC-3 coach as against 64 passengers in other AC-3 coaches. Similarly, the number of berths is more in LHB AC-2, which can accommodate 52 passengers against the usual 46. In AC-1 coaches, there will be space for 24 passengers against the current 18.
LHB coaches cannot turn turtle in the event of any derailment or collision. According to officials, the LHB coaches are fitted with microprocessor-controlled high capacity air conditioning system, which gives passengers better comforts during summer and winter seasons.
The LHB coaches, manufactured under technology-transfer from Germany, have automatic couplers to join two coaches. Unlike conventional coaches where one needs to go inside the coach and move through the vestibule to uncouple two coaches, these advanced couplers can be uncoupled from the outside.
The railway officials said that the coaches are about two meter more in length. The windows of the coaches are big and also have four emergency exits.

Jennifer Aniston might attend Brad-Angelina wedding

Jennifer Aniston is reportedly delighted for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, after hearing news of her ex-husband's engagement.
The 43-year-old 'Friend's star is so happy with her own beau Justin Theroux that she is actually pleased with the situation, according to reports.
"Jennifer is happy for Brad and Angelina. She is so in love with Justin, that she is really grateful how things turned out," the Daily Mail quoted a source as telling HollywoodLife.com.
"In a strange way if it weren't for Angelina, Jennifer would not have connected with Justin in a romantic way. Jennifer is in a really wonderful place right now.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she even went to their wedding," the source added.
Pitt and Aniston had split in 2005, ending their five-year marriage, and the actor was soon linked to Jolie.
Rumours were sparked that Brangelina got together while filming Mr 'n' Mrs Smith, while Pitt was still married to Aniston.

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