Imation Corp., reported declining annual sales for the fourth straight year Friday as the company continues its strategy to transition from lower-margin commodity storage products to higher margin products.
Fourth quarter revenue of $342.3 million was down 14.1 percent from fourth quarter of last year with a net loss of $12.9 million -- an improvement over the net loss of $137.8 million fourth quarter of 2010. For the year, the Oakdale-based company reported revenue of $1.29 billion, down 11.7 percent from $1.46 billion in 2010. Imation lost $46.7 million or $1.24 per share in 2011 -- an improvement over a net loss of $158.5 million or $4.19 per share in 2010.
"While we saw declines in our lower-margin commodity storage products, our new differentiated products in secure and scalable storage showed encouraging growth," Imation president and CEO Mark Lucas said in the company's earnings release.
Imation made five acquisitions over the last year to aid its transformation to higher-margin products including a key acquisition in the fourth quarter that gives the company new cloud-based storage offerings. .
"We are committed to our strategy and are enthusiastic about the progress we are making," Lucas said in the release. "Our management team and our employees worldwide are executing on this strategy and remain focused on our goal of returning to revenue growth as we exit 2012."
PATRICK KENNEDY
