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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Itron posts record sales for quarter

Company says biggest gains from North America

Liberty Lake tech company Itron Inc. on Wednesday reported record quarterly revenue of $576 million and earnings of $29.1 million during its third quarter.

Earnings for the quarter compare with a loss of $2.9 million in the third quarter of 2009.

Third-quarter sales grew 41 percent from the $408 million from the third quarter of 2009. Nine-month sales were $1.6 billion, compared to $1.2 billion from the nine months the year before.

The biggest gains in sales came from North America, said company President and CEO Malcolm Unsworth.

Those were $315 million for the third quarter and $862 million for the first nine months of this year, compared with $137 million and $420 million respectively for the same periods one year ago.

Unsworth said the increase in overall sales comes largely from shipments of smart meters and modules.

Itron also reported a 12-month backlog of $958 million in sales and total backlog of $1.7 billion, compared to $749 million and $1.6 billion from the comparable periods of 2009.