• Income from Operations increased 16% to $5.5 million, for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, versus same quarter one year earlier.
• Net Income decreased by 2% to $4.5 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, versus same quarter one year earlier, as a result of the Company’s requirement to record a full tax provision for 2018 in the amount of $1.1 million as compared to $0.2 million in 2017. The increase in the 2018 provision is due to a re-evaluation of the need for a deferred tax valuation allowance.
• Total Revenues-Net increased by 7% to $20.7 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, versus same quarter one year earlier.
• Cash and cash equivalents increased by 8% to $21.2 million at the quarter ended September 30, 2018 versus the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018.
• Diluted Net Income per common share was $0.48, and was also adversely impacted due to the re-evaluation of the need of the deferred tax valuation allowance.
• Working Capital increased by 12% to $58.8 million at the quarter ended September 30, 2018 versus the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018.
• The Total Assets / Total Liabilities ratio at the quarter ended September 30, 2018 was 9.0.

MELVILLE, N.Y., Nov. 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ-FONR), Inventor of MR Scanning™, reported today its financial results for the first quarter of 2019 which ended September 30, 2018. FONAR’s primary source of income and growth is attributable to its diagnostic imaging management subsidiary, Health Management Company of America (HMCA).  In 2009, HMCA managed 9 MRI facilities. Today, HMCA manages 26 diagnostic imaging centers (19 in New York and 7 in Florida) collectively equipped with 34 MRI scanners.

Financial Results

Total Revenues-Net for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, increased 7% to $20.7 million as compared to $19.3 million for the corresponding quarter ended September 30, 2017.

Income from Operations for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, increased 16% to $5.5 million as compared to $4.8 million for the corresponding quarter ended September 30, 2017.

Net Income for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, decreased 2% to $4.5 million as compared to $4.6 million for the corresponding quarter ended September 30, 2017. The Company recorded an income tax provision of $1.1 million in 2018 as compared to $0.2 million in 2017. The Company is required at the end of each interim period to determine the best estimate of its annual effective tax rate and apply that rate to year-to-date ordinary income.  The resulting tax expense is adjusted for the tax effect of specific events, if any, required to be discretely recognized in the interim period as they occur. For the three months ended September 30, 2018, the Company recorded a current income tax expense of $0.6 million and deferred income tax expense of $0.5 million. Given the Company’s available net operating loss carryforwards, a substantial portion of the income tax expense for the quarter will not require cash outlay.

Basic Net Income per Common Share Available to Common Stockholders, for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, decreased 11% to $0.49 as compared to $0.55 for the corresponding quarter ended September 30, 2017.

Diluted Net Income per Common Share Available to Common Stockholders, for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, decreased 11% to $0.48 as compared $0.54 for the corresponding quarter ended September 30, 2017.

Total Cash and Cash Equivalents at September 30, 2018, increased 8% to $21.2 million, as compared to $19.6 million at June 30, 2018.

Total Current Assets at September 30, 2018 increased 5% to $70.6 million, as compared to $67.1 million at June 30, 2018.

Total Assets at September 30, 2018 increased 2% to $120.2 million as compared to $118.3 million at June 30, 2018.

Total Current Liabilities at September 30, 2018 decreased 19% to $11.8 million, as compared to $14.6 million at June 30, 2018.

Total Liabilities at September 30, 2018 decreased 17% to $13.3 million, as compared to $16.1 million at June 30, 2018.

The Total Assets / Total Liabilities ratio for the quarter ended September 30, 2018 was 9.0.

Significant Event

On September 3, 2018, Dr. Damadian’s presentation of ‘The First MRI Scan’ was featured on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) radio program, Witness.  During the nine-minute broadcast to a BBC World Service radio network audience of more than 300 million listeners world-wide, Dr. Damadian relived the excitement of the moment when he conducted the world’s first MRI scan.  “Well, we put Larry (Minkoff) in, we got a signal immediately from his heart, and I said, ‘Holy smokes. It’s actually going to work!’”  The BBC broadcast of this pioneering episode in MRI can be heard online at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswsj4

Management Discussion

President and CEO, Timothy R. Damadian, said, “We are pleased to report that Income from Operations improved 16 percent to $5.5 million during the first fiscal quarter of 2019 over the same quarter one year earlier. We continue to grow. In fact, over the 12-month period ended September 30, 2018, our HMCA-managed facilities completed approximately 179,000 MRI scans, which was 13,000 scans, or 8%, more than we completed during the preceding 12-month period.

“I attribute our success to the ever-growing popularity among patients who strongly prefer and sometimes even insist on having their MRIs done on our patient-friendly, non-claustrophobic FONAR scanners, as well as physicians’ growing awareness of the unique diagnostic benefits of weight-bearing MRI, which only FONAR scanners can provide.  Credit is also due to our very capable and experienced management team that keeps our centers operating profitably and successfully promotes the advantages of FONAR technology throughout the medical community.”

Chairman of the Board, Raymond V. Damadian, M.D., said, “There are many reasons for FONAR’s success. First, we began the MRI industry in 1980 and have since manufactured and sold more than 400 MRI scanners worldwide. Today, we have a one-of-a-kind scanner – the FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI, aka the Stand-Up® MRI. It is the only whole-body MRI that can scan patients in numerous weight-bearing positions, including sitting, standing, as well as bending in flexion or extension.”

Dr. Damadian continued, “Regarding our research efforts, over the past few years we have been making movies (cines) of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as it moves up and down the neck and around the brain.  Thanks to the UPRIGHT® MRI’s ability to scan patients in weight-bearing positions as well as in the recumbent, non-weight-bearing position, we are finding significant differences in CSF flow cines.  These cines often provide clues that enable physicians to find solutions to their patients’ medical problems.”

“Currently, our research is focused on determining the velocity of the CSF as it navigates through the neck and head.  We’ve been able to use CSF velocity data collected from normal patients to identify CSF flow abnormalities in patients with problems.”   

“We have recently been issued a patent covering the use of the FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI to diagnose patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Included in this patent is the role of CSF in the Upright position. The patent is based on the discovery FONAR announced on November 2, 2011.” 

Dr. Damadian concluded, “We are hopeful that our research may lead to a new understanding of the role of CSF on brain diseases, like MS.”

About FONAR

FONAR, the Inventor of MR Scanning™ is the first, oldest and most experienced MRI company in the industry.  Incorporated in 1978, FONAR, which is located in Melville, New York, introduced the world’s first commercial MRI in 1980, and went public in 1981. The company’s signature product is the FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI (also known as the Stand-Up® MRI), the only whole-body MRI that performs Position™ Imaging (pMRI™), allowing it to scan patients in numerous weight-bearing positions, i.e. standing, sitting, in flexion and extension, as well as in the conventional lie-down position.

The FONAR UPRIGHT® MRI often detects patient problems that other MRI scanners cannot because they are lie-down, ”weightless-only” scanners. The patient-friendly UPRIGHT® MRI has a near-zero patient claustrophobic rejection rate. As a FONAR customer states, “If the patient is claustrophobic in this scanner, they’ll be claustrophobic in my parking lot.” Approximately 85% of patients are scanned sitting while watching TV.

FONAR has new works-in-progress technology for visualizing and quantifying the cerebral hydraulics of the central nervous system, the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which circulates throughout the brain and vertebral column at the rate of 32 quarts per day.  This imaging and quantifying of the dynamics of this vital life-sustaining physiology of the body’s neurologic system has been made possible first by FONAR’s introduction of the MRI and now by this latest works-in-progress method for quantifying CSF in all the normal positions of the body, particularly in its upright flow against gravity.  Patients with whiplash or other neck injuries are among those who will benefit from this new understanding.

FONAR’s substantial list of patents includes recent patents for its technology enabling full weight-bearing MRI imaging of all the gravity sensitive regions of the human anatomy, especially the brain, extremities and spine. It includes its newest technology for measuring the Upright cerebral hydraulics of the central nervous system.  FONAR’s UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI is the only scanner licensed under these patents.

UPRIGHT® and STAND-UP® are registered trademarks and The Inventor of MR Scanning™, Full Range of Motion™, Multi-Position™, Upright Radiology™, The Proof is in the Picture™, True Flow™, pMRI™, Spondylography™, Dynamic™, Spondylometry™, CSP™, and Landscape™, are trademarks of FONAR Corporation.

This release may include forward-looking statements from the company that may or may not materialize. Additional information on factors that could potentially affect the company's financial results may be found in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.