Prime Medical Services can't shake lag in vehicle manufacturing segment

Weakness in the medical imaging segment of its specialty vehicle manufacturing division took its toll on Prime Medical Services Inc.'s financial results in the third quarter.

 Revenues dipped to $39.6 million, compared with $43.4 million in the third quarter of 2002. Net income declined to $1.8 million, compared with $3.2 million in the year-ago quarter. For the nine-month period, revenues totaled $117.3 million, up slightly from $116.3 million in the same period of 2002. Net income fell to $5 million, compared with $8.5 million in the year-ago period. All revenue totals exclude Prime's refractive vision corrections (RVC) operations, which the company sold last year.

 Prime President and CEO Brad A. Hummel said the "continued year-on-year softness in the mobile medical imaging business and the length of time it has taken the federal government to provide Homeland Security funding to the states and municipalities has been a source of frustration throughout the year," adding that it has "hampered timely execution of our strategic plan."

 Prime is anticipating fourth-quarter revenues of approximately $43.5 million.

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