Tii says income rises 70.6 percent

First-quarter net income for Edgewood-based Tii Network Technologies rose 70.6 percent from the same period last year, the maker of broadband and voice communications devices reported this week.

The business made $790,000 from almost $14 million in sales for the period ending March 31, compared to a $463,000 net income from $7.7 million in sales, the report said. The increases stemmed from Tii’s purchase in May 2010 of Porta Systems, a Syosset maker of telecom devices. It became Tii’s Porta Copper Products Division.

As Tii chief Kenneth A. Paladino, left,  holds the shareholders' annual meeting today, he said he’s prepared to explain again the “sensitive issue” of sales have fallen for the third straight quarter. Sales were $18.6 million in the third quarter last year and $17.8 million in the fourth quarter.

But that high sales volume came shortly after the 2008 and 2009 recession relinquished its hold on many businesses, Paladino said: “What everybody did was they put the brakes on purchasing stuff throughout the whole world, and then in 2010, people woke up and found out ‘Hey, by the way, we probably overreacted in 2009 ... we still have business out there.’ ”

Tii hustled to fill that pent-up demand, including buying more supplies to accommodate orders, Paladino said.

“It’s a sensitive issue, because people saw us in the third quarter of last year and said ‘Oh my goodness. These guys tripled in size. This is great.’ Possibly some shareholders were expecting a much larger company that they bought shares in.”

Paladino said he expects Tii to have a “strong” 2011.

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