Hybritech Posts Seventh Straight Profitable Quarter

Hybritech Inc., San Diego, reported its seventh consecutive profitable quarter and its first operating profit.

Net income for the first quarter ended March 31, 1985, was $366,000, an increase of 165% over the previous year’s first-quarter earnings. Operating revenue climbed 118% to $11.6 million. Of that total, product sales accounted for $6.4 million, an increase of 139%. And contract revenue--from joint product development ventures and two research and development partnerships--added $5.2 million, about double the prior year’s figure. Operating profit of $7,000 was the first in the biomedical firm’s six-year history. In last year’s first quarter, Hybritech reported an operating loss of $608,000.

Officials attributed the company’s growth to new products, including cancer diagnostics and pregnancy tests.

Hybritech now has shifted “from having earnings based on interest income to earnings from product sales,” according to Timothy J. Wollaeger, senior vice president and chief financial officer.