Adept names John Dulchinos CEO, Robert Bucher executive chairman, reports FY08 financials

SEPTEMBER 5, 2008--Adept Technology, Inc. (Livermore, CA, USA; www.adept.com), a provider of intelligent automation software for motion and vision-guided robotics systems and services, has named John Dulchinos CEO to succeed Robert Bucher, who has been named executive chairman of the board of directors. Dulchinos remains president of Adept and has also been elected to serve as a member of the company's board. Michael Kelly, Adept's current chairman of the board, will continue to serve on the board in the position of lead independent director.

Dulchinos joined Adept Technology in 1987, just four years after the company was founded. He has held several senior management positions including vice president of global sales and marketing, vice president of robotics, vice president of worldwide sales, vice president of North American sales, and, most recently, president and chief operating officer.

Says Bucher, "John's strong combination of business, sales and technical skills have contributed greatly to the successful turnaround we've made in the past 5 years. We have worked closely during that period together with an excellent team to build a company where we are gaining traction in growing markets with innovative, patented products."

Adept also released its highlights and financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended June 30, 2008.

Revenues for 4Q08 increased 35.8% to $16.7 million, compared to $12.3 million for the same period last year, and 3.7% from $16.1 million in the third quarter. Net income increased substantially from the prior year, growing to $900,000, or $0.10 per fully diluted share, compared to a net loss of $5.7 million, or $0.73 per fully diluted share for 4Q07, and decreased from net income for 3Q08 of $1.0 million, or $0.12 per fully diluted share. Net income in the quarter was positively impacted by a foreign currency exchange gain of $560,000.

Gross margin was 48.5% of revenue in 4Q08, compared with 44.9% of revenue in 4Q07 and 46.3% in 3Q08. 4Q08 operating expenses decreased to $8.0 million, compared with operating expenses of $11.5 million in the same quarter of FY07. Operating income was $116,000 in 4Q08, compared with an operating loss of $6.0 million in 4Q07.

Revenues for the full fiscal year ended June 30, 2008 were $60.8 million, up 24.8% from revenues of $48.7 million for FY07. Net income increased to $3.6 million or $0.44 per fully diluted share from a net loss of $11.5 million or $1.50 per fully diluted share for FY07. Net income for FY08 was positively impacted by a foreign currency exchange gain of $755,000.

Gross margin for the full FY08 was 49.5%, compared with gross margin of 43.3% in the previous year. Operating income for FY08 was $2.8 million, compared with an operating loss of $12.4 million in FY07.

"The fourth quarter marked the end of a strong year for Adept, as we continued to gain traction in each of our target vertical markets: packaging, solar, medical, and disk drive," says Dulchinos. "In our solar vertical, sales momentum continued with additional design wins at major U.S. and European machine builders. We continued to invest heavily in this vertical. Moving forward into the new fiscal year, we expect that these investments will enable Adept to emerge as a major player in the high-growth solar cell manufacturing market."

Continues Dulchinos, "In the packaging vertical, we had another excellent sales quarter in Europe, led by the French consumer sector. As we look to fiscal 2009, we are confident in our positions in our key target markets and are excited about the future." Dulchinos points to geographic expansion efforts in each quarter as driving this growth, and notes that "with a significantly improved financial model and balance sheet, and underscoring our confidence, we have implemented a stock repurchase program in which we plan to repurchase up to $2.5 million of Adept common stock, as we believe we have the resources and product portfolio for continued growth and success."