Ocean Power cuts Q1 FY loss on falling costs

Deployed PB3 PowerBuoy off the coast of New Jersey.

US company Ocean Power Technologies (NASDAQ:OPTT) on Friday reported a net loss of USD 2.7 million (EUR 2.2m) for its first fiscal quarter through July, narrowing its year-ago deficit of USD 3.8 million.

Ocean Power explained that the improvement was attributed to lower product development costs and a drop in the fair value of its warrants liability. The result was partially offset by slightly higher selling, general, and administrative expenses, it noted.

The firm’s PowerBuoy is a power conversion and management system that turns wave power into electricity. Ocean Power last year shipped one commercial-ready PB3 PowerBuoy to Japan. The company has also initiated the production of two new commercial-ready PB3 units, which will be its third and fourth, with plans to have the third one deployment-ready by August-October 2017.

More details about Ocean Power’s Q1 FY 2017/18 can be found in the table:

(All in USD thousands)	Q1 FY 2017/18	Q1 FY 2016/17
Net loss	2,663	3,827
Net loss per basic, diluted share	0.22	1.72
Operating loss	2,765	3,080
Operating costs	2,743	3,155
Revenue	195	202

"Our first quarter results were in line with our expectations, and we continued to make progress on our strategic initiatives to commercialize the PB3 PowerBuoy and position the company for future growth,” said George H Kirby, Ocean Power’s president and CEO.

At the end of July, the US firm had total cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and marketable securities totalling USD 12 million, compared to USD 8.9 million at the end of April.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.831)

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