Business briefs

16 May 2003

Including news from Quantel, LINOS, Avalon Photonics and more.

•  French laser maker Quantel has reported a 22.3% rise in sales for the first quarter of 2003. Sales for the quarter were EURO 9 million compared with EURO 7.35 million for the same period last year. The company expects sales to rise further in the second half of the year and throughout 2004. Quantel also hopes to extend its presence in the US this year.

•  Novaled of Germany has secured EURO 5.75 million of first round venture capital funding from a consortium of international investors. The company, a spin-off from Germany's Technical University of Dresden and Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems, will use the cash to develop second generation organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology.

•  Linos, a German maker of optical systems, has reported a first quarter revenue of EURO 18.5 million, up 10.9% on the previous quarter and 4.4% year-on-year. Operating loss also improved from EURO 2.7 million in the same quarter last year to EURO 0.5 million. Thanks to a major order worth EURO 30.6 million, the company says its order intake has increased for the sixth quarter in a row.

•  Swiss VCSEL maker Avalon Photonics has won USD 5.5 million of second round financing. Vision Capital led the investment. The round included existing investors Viventures and the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microelectronics (CSEM) and two new investors, Venture Incubator from Switzerland and innotech from Germany.

•  BIOLASE Technology, a US maker of medical and dental lasers, is buying all of the laser assets of American Medical Technologies (AMT) in a joint stock-cash deal. The transaction will see BIOLASE pay USD 1.825 million in cash and 307 500 shares. The purchase includes AMT's "American Dental Laser" products, allegedly the largest installed brand of dental laser across the globe.

BIOLASE has also reported first quarter sales of USD 8.7 million, a 66% rise compared with the same period last year. Net income for the quarter also rose to USD 674 000 compared with USD 119 000 for the first quarter of 2002.