Gross margin as a percent of sales was lower than the comparable period last year for both the fourth quarter and full year.  The lower gross margin percentage reflected the effect of product mix, as the gross margin percentage on CMM sales related to the recently acquired COORD3 business is lower than that of the Company’s core products.  The full-year gross margin as a percent of sales was also impacted by one-time charges of approximately $500,000 relating to remedying the misclassification of employees in a foreign jurisdiction. 

Expenses for research and development for the quarter were $2.3 million, or 10% of revenue, a $498,000 increase from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.  Full-year expenses of $7.9 million, or 11% of revenue, in the current year were up $1.2 million over fiscal year 2014.  The increase for each period represented expenses for the acquired businesses, higher engineering materials in support of product-development efforts and personnel-related costs. 

Selling, general and administrative costs were $6.3 million for the fourth quarter and $20.4 million for the full year, compared with $4.2 million and $15.2 million, in the comparable periods of fiscal year 2014. The full-year increase included one-time charges of $2.1 million representing $1.6 million for costs related to the acquisitions of COORD3 and Next Metrology and $500,000 for costs associated with the implementation of the Company’s new global enterprise resource planning system.  Nearly half of the remaining $3.1 million increase represented costs from activities of the new COORD3 and Next Metrology businesses and the rest related tohigher personnel-related expenses and other professional services.

FINANCIAL POSITION

The Company’s cash and short-term investment balance was $15.6 million at June 30, 2015, compared with $20.9 million at March 31, 2015.  The $5.3 million reduction primarily related to working capital changes supporting the Company’s operations.  At June 30, 2015, the remaining COORD3 acquired debt was 4.1 million Euros (approximately $4.5 million) and is expected to be paid in accordance with the terms of the assumed agreements.

Quarterly Investor Call and Webcast

Perceptron, Inc., will hold its year-end investor conference call/webcast, chaired by Jeff Armstrong, president and CEO, on Thursday, August 27, 2015, at 10:00 AM (EDT).  Investors can access the call at:

Webcast:â�¨  investors.perceptron.comon the Event page

Conference Call: 888 715-1401 (domestic callers) or 913 312-1456 (international callers)

Conference ID 7556250

A replay will be posted to the Company's website after the conference call concludes.

About Perceptron^®

Perceptron (NASDAQ: PRCP) supplies a comprehensive range of automated industrial metrology products and solutions to manufacturing organizations for dimensional gauging, dimensional inspection and 3D scanning. Products include 3D machine vision solutions, robot guidance, coordinate measuring machines, laser scanning, and advanced analysis software. Automotive, aerospace and other manufacturing companies globally rely on Perceptron's metrology solutions to assist in managing their complex manufacturing processes to improve quality, shorten product launch times and reduce costs. More than 900 systems, 12,000 Perceptron measuring sensors and 3,000 COORD3 coordinate measuring machines are in active daily use worldwide. Headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan, Perceptron has subsidiary operations in Brazil, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain and the UK. For more information, please visit www.perceptron.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements in this press release may be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including the Company’s expectation as to its fiscal year 2016, and future, new order bookings, revenue, expenses, income and backlog levels, trends affecting its future revenue levels, the rate of new orders, the timing of revenue and income from new products which we have recently released or have not yet released, the timing of the introduction of new products and the Company’s expectation as to the revenue and income levels of the acquired businesses of COORD3 s.r.l. and Next Metrology Software s.r.o.  Whenever possible, we have identified these forward-looking statements by words such as:  ”foresee,” “will,” “should,” “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “prospects,” “outlook” or similar expressions.  We claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for all of our forward-looking statements.  While we believe that our forward-looking statements are reasonable, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made.  Because these forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions that are subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control or are subject to change, actual results could be materially different.  Factors that might cause such a difference include, without limitation, the risks and uncertainties discussed from time to time in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those listed in “Item 1A – Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2014 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.  Except as required by applicable law, we do not undertake, and expressly disclaim, any obligation to publicly update or alter our statements whether as a result of new information, events or circumstances occurring after the date of this report or otherwise. 

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Contact:

Heather Wietzel
Lambert, Edwards & Associates
Email Contact