Operating losses for the quarter were $430,000, compared with an operating profit of $68,000 in the first quarter of 2006, while net losses were $417,000 against a $42,000 profit in last year's quarter.
The quarterly results continued something of a rollercoaster ride for Newton, US-based MFIC, which lifted its full-year revenues by 35 per cent to $15.7m in 2006. In the first quarter of that year, MFIC returned to profitability following big losses in Q1 2005.
The slowdown in the latest quarter had been well signposted. On 2 April MFIC announced that it expected to deliver a loss for the first three months of the year, on the back of a significant decline in revenues. The main reason, the company explained, was delays in shipping two production Microfluidizer processor systems with an aggregate value of around $644,000.
Final testing of one of these systems in the last week of the quarter "encountered a technical difficulty which could not be resolved quickly", MFIC said. The second delay was due to "issues regarding the scheduling of the final testing process before the quarter's end".
In its latest announcement, MFIC also cited delays in shipping four smaller Microfluidizer processor systems with an aggregate value of around $172,000. All six production units are expected to be booked as revenue in the second quarter of 2007.
The Microfluidizer high-shear processor systems use a 'fixed geometry' interaction chamber to force liquid streams through microchannels at extremely high pressure and velocity. The streams then collide, producing nanoscale particles in stable dispersions or emulsions that can be used in a wide variety of applications such as pharmaceuticals and coatings.
Among the brighter notes in the first quarter was completing production of the company's first new biopharmaceutical integrated platform system, which incorporates in a single unit Constant Pressure and Steam in Place features as well as extensive electronic operating controls and real-time data archiving systems.
MFIC has been introducing standardised versions of its M-700 series Microfluidizer processors to meet the varying needs of the biopharmaceutical industry.
Another highlight was a "significant breakthrough" in the company's Microfluidizer Multiple Stream Mixer/Reactor (MMR) programme, which comes under a research and collaboration agreement signed with the University of Massachusetts Lowell in October 2005.
The Multiple Stream Reactor performs fast, continuous chemical reactions in an ultraturbulent environment. Rather than starting with a premixed formulation, as is standard practice for the Microfluidizer processor systems, MFIC explains, researchers can introduce two or more streams of pure starting reactant materials to create nanostructures under total control and in production quantities.
The technology achieves "unprecedented control of nanostructure size and uniformity", the company claims, with potential applications ranging from superconductors to drug reformulation, catalysts, photographic emulsions and the production of highly durable ceramics.
The first-quarter discovery was Microfluidics Reaction Technology (MRT), which enables nanoparticles to be formulated for drug and other applications using the Microfluidizer processing equipment. The research will be published for the first time this month at the 2007 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Nanotech 2007, in Santa Clara, California.
All was not lost on the sales front, either. MFIC said it sold a high number of Microfluidizer laboratory units during the first quarter and experienced strong demand for these lines, particularly the improved Model M-110EH-30 launched in late 2005.
