Engineering Services Firm Loses $52,000 in Quarter

National Technical Systems Inc., a Calabasas provider of testing and engineering services, reported a fiscal third-quarter loss of $52,000, its first quarterly loss in four years.

The loss in the quarter ended Oct. 31 contrasted with net income of $257,000 a year earlier, and came despite a 28% rise in National Technical’s revenue, to $10.8 million from $8.41 million in the same period a year earlier. The higher revenue partly reflects the company’s purchase of S & W Technical Services in November, 1990.

National Technical blamed the loss on slowing demand for its services because of the recession and on higher overhead and interest costs. Certain companies that had sought “engineering evaluations and testing contracts decided to cancel them or postpone them,� National Technical said.

For the first nine months of the firm’s fiscal year, National Technical’s net income plunged 61%, to $263,000 from $670,000, and its nine-month revenue rose 32%, to $31.5 million from $23.8 million.