Itron Inc. announced this morning first-quarter net income of $2.6 million, or 6 cents a share, down sharply from $25.4 million, or 63 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.
The Liberty Lake-based maker of automated meter-reading technology reported $448 million in revenue for the quarter, down from $572 million in the year-earlier quarter. The decrease, the company said, was driven by an anticipated $118 million decline in revenue in Itron's energy segment due to the completion of several OpenWay projects.
Electricity revenues not related to OpenWay projects grew 10 percent compared with the year-earlier period, and other gas revenues fell 12 percent. Water revenues increased 1.5 percent.
Philip Mezey, Itron's president and CEO, said in a press release that the company's near-term focus is to improve operating performance through efficiencies as it continues to invest in technology to support smart metering projects internationally.
"I remain confident about our industry's future growth prospects and confident in Itron's ability to lead the transformation to smarter grids and smarter cities," Mezey said.
According to a Journal of Business list of the Spokane area's top employers, Itron had about 7,900 employees worldwide as of last November, including almost 500 in the Spokane area.