Foreign Sales Foreign sales of our products were 38%, 43% and 44% for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2001, 2000 and 1999, respectively. Management believes that our foreign sales will continue to comprise a significant portion of revenues. We require that all international sales be paid for with U.S. dollars. An increase in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies could make our products less competitive in those markets. Research and Development Costs Research and development costs related to the continual development of our products are expensed as incurred and included in operating expenses. Research and development costs totaled approximately $1,159,561, $1,274,900 and $920,600 for the years ended September 30, 2001, 2000 and 1999, respectively. Year to year increases in research and development expenditures are primarily attributable to increased product development and investments in pure research to provide for significant future technology and product advancements. The ability to recoup research and development costs from third parties decreased our expense in 2001. Management anticipates a continued commitment to research and development as the engineering department is positioned to support and facilitate future growth. Cost associated with our patents are capitalized and amortized over their estimated useful life of 15 to 17 years. Patent costs capitalized totaled approximately $130,000, $148,000 and $298,000 for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2001, 2000 and 1999, respectively. Income Taxes Our policy is to provide deferred income taxes related to inventories and other items that result in differences between the financial reporting and tax basis of assets and liabilities and a net operating loss carryforward. As a result, at September 30, 2001, we recorded a $0 deferred tax asset. Liquidity and Capital Resources Our net working capital at September 30, 2001 was $8,201,411 as compared to working capital of $6,918,219 at September 30, 2000, an increase of $1,283,192. The increase is primarily related to an increase in inventory. Current assets exceeded current liabilities by a ratio of 9.7 to 1. Furthermore, the acid test ratio (ratio of current assets minus inventories and prepaid expenses to liabilities) was in excess of 4.76 to 1. Thus, the present working capital is expected to adequately meet our needs for at least the next twelve months. Inventory, the largest item that required financing, stood at $4,493,440 at September 30, 2001, up $1,396,578 from September 30, 2000. Inventory expansion reflected stocking of certain outsourced assemblies and an increase in other raw materials. Prepaid insurance, fees and expenses required an additional $78,632 of funding. The operating activities that provided cash were a net income of $409,113, depreciation and amortization of $556,314 and a reduction in accounts receivable and bad debt of $361,119. The only other items that reduced cash were a decrease in accounts payable and accrued expenses of $194,917. For the year ended September 30, 2001, a net cash increase of $512,460 from investing activities was due to the conversion of investment accounts into working capital. After expending $811,482 on operating activities and $83,480 on long term debt and capital leases, there was a net decrease in cash and equivalents of $382,502. When added to cash on hand at the beginning of the twelve month period, total cash and equivalents at September 30, 2001 stood at $1,641,586. Thus, cash and equivalents alone comfortably exceeded total liabilities of $934,976 at the end of the period. For the year ended September 30, 2000, cash provided by operating activities was $1,727,170. Net income of $341,412, a reduction of receivables and bad debt of $1,182,709 and deferred taxes of $288,000, together with depreciation and amortization of $563,452, offset the increase in inventories of $249,127 and net decrease in accounts payable and accrued expenses of $588,488. Cash used in investing activities in 2000 of $352,228 was primarily used for the purchase of property and equipment in the amount of $195,967; purchase of investments of $471,608; and $148,387 used for capitalization of patent costs. This result was partially offset with proceeds from investment maturities of $450,139 and sale of property & equipment of $13,595. For fiscal 2000, cash and cash equivalents increased $1,267,012. 23 |