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MANUFACTURING Erickson reports 2015 loss of $86.7 million Comment By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness Posted Mar. 3, 2016 at 5:14 PM By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness Posted Mar. 3, 2016 at 5:14 PM » Social News The oil and gas industry was mired in a slump, the wildfire season was relatively mild, the Small Business Administration decided Erickson wasn't small enough to qualify for certain government contracts, and debt left over from the leveraged buyout of a competitor years ago continued to cast a long shadow. It all added up to make 2015 one rough year for aviation firm Erickson, whose primary manufacturing and maintenance operations are in Jackson County. Erickson Thursday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $16.7 million, compared with a $2.5 million setback a year earlier, and a full year 2015 loss of $86.7 million after a $10.3 million loss in 2014. Revenue for the fourth quarter declined to $60.9 million from $73.2 million, while full-year revenue slipped to $297.5 million from $346.6 million in 2014. "While we are disappointed with our performance, our cash flow improvement reflects the dramatic changes we have made since last year," CEO Jeff Roberts said during a morning conference call. "The improvement is a result of our cut-around plan that included reductions in operating expenses, streamlining our operations, aggressive working capital management and disciplined capital investing. More specifically we have reduced lease expense, rationalized our operating structure, (updated) our fleet plan, closed underutilized facilities and bolstered our front end." Although Roberts sees long-term oil and gas exploration opportunities, short-term revenue will be diminished. "We believe we can add value for onshore operations where customers need self-sustained support in remote and challenging environments," Roberts said. "We're increasingly less focused on the offshore market, which is crowded and has very unique, specific aircraft requirements." Roberts said it has revamped its bidding procedure following the SBA's determination. "Although we strongly disagree with the decision, the SBA determined that Erickson is something other than small and thus not able to directly bid on certain government contracts that are set aside for small businesses," he said. "We're evaluating our options to address this issue. In order to comply with certain standards under the Small Business Administration requirements, we had to change our bidding procedure to include a small business to act as the prime contractor." He indicated that the company will likely produce fewer of the Seeker surveillance aircraft this year than thought earlier, partly because Albuquerque, N.M.-based Seeker Aircraft is still negotiating sales for the airplanes that cost between $400,000 and $500,000 per unit. He said the numebrs being discussed range anwhere from five to 25. "From our standpoint it's a positive contract with us as long as they do one or two," Roberts said. "If they get it north of that, it ... would be a nice kicker ... ." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31 By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Follow @@GregMTBusiness Posted Mar. 3, 2016 at 5:14 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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