Mesa Labs Reports Record Year End Sales an...( LAKEWOOD Colo. May 19 /- Mesa Lab...),Health

LAKEWOOD, Colo., May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mesa Laboratories, Inc. (Nasdaq: MLAB) today reported record sales and net income results for the year ended March 31, 2008.

Highlights:

-- Annual revenue increases 13% to a new record

-- Annual operating income increases 25% to a new record

-- Annual net income increases 16% to a new record

-- Fourth quarter revenue increases 10% to a new record

-- Fourth quarter operating income increases 7% to a new record

Net sales for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008 increased 13 percent to a record $19,558,000 compared to $17,242,000 in the same period last year. Operating income for the year increased 25 percent to $7,061,000 compared to $5,659,000, while net income for the year increased 16 percent to a record $4,610,000 or $1.41 per diluted share compared to $3,958,000 or $1.22 per diluted share one year ago.

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008, net sales were up 10 percent to a record $5,790,000 compared to $5,286,000 in the same quarter last year. Operating income for the quarter increased seven percent to $1,937,000 compared to $1,805,000, while net income for the quarter decreased 17 percent to $1,195,000 or $.36 per diluted share compared to $1,438,000 or $.44 per diluted share one year ago, caused by tax adjustments in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007.

For the fiscal year, Mesa experienced net income growth of 16 percent, which was ahead of the sales growth rate of 13 percent. Most of this acceleration of profitability for the fiscal year can be attributed to a gain in gross profits as a percent of net sales. During the fiscal fourth quarter, we saw a 17 percent decline in net income despite a year over year increase in
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