VOD, Ad-Insertion Orders Buoy SeaChange

SeaChange International posted sharply improved earnings Thursday for its fiscal second quarter ended July 31 from its video-on-demand and advertising-insertion hardware and software.

Second-quarter net income amounted to $1.5 million, or 5 cents per share, a turnaround from a net loss of $7.9 million (27 cents) in the same period a year ago. The year-ago quarter was dragged down by onetime severance costs from downsizing and impairment charges.

Revenue at the TV-infrastructure vendor rose 15% to $50.7 million.

“We exceeded $50 million in quarterly revenue for the first time in the company’s history on continued strong North American service-provider spending for VOD-server and software products,” SeaChange president and CEO Bill Styslinger said in a statement. “We’re particularly pleased that the first commercial deployment of flash-memory servers by two of our largest North American cable-television customers significantly contributed to our VOD-server revenue this quarter.”

He added that revenue is trending 10% higher in this fiscal year and “we will be profitable for the second half of the year.” Thursday’s earnings were its fourth consecutive profitable quarter.

Based in Acton, Mass., SeaChange repurchased $4 million of company stock during the quarter.