THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270263
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD
STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: 35 lines
nView Corp. said Monday that it signed an agreement to manufacture its best-selling image-projection device for Polaroid Corp.
The deal is the largest step by nView into private-label manufacturing, in which it makes products that are sold under other companies' names.
Executives of the Newport News-based company said the deal also could lead to cooperation between nView and Polaroid to develop new image-projection products.
James A. Kirkpatrick, an nView spokesman, said the company's private-label sales accounted for 9 percent of its overall revenues of $33 million last year. ``I would say that it would not be inconceivable to expect that to grow to anywhere from 25 to 30 percent'' in the next few years, he said.
Private-label sales, while not earning nView notice from the public, help the company plan its production and lessen the need to build inventory, Kirkpatrick said. Polaroid, for instance, has given the company advance orders for the nView device it will be marketing - a multimedia projector that will be marketed as the Polaview 220. The same type of projector is marketed by nView as the Diamond D and will sell, in its latest version, for more than $11,000, Kirkpatrick said.
He declined to disclose terms of the Polaroid deal - or estimate expected revenues for nView from it. nView has private-label manufacturing agreements with five other companies, he added, declining to disclose their names.
nView's stock closed Monday at $6.44 a share, up 19 cents, in Nasdaq trading. About 105,000 shares changed hands, roughly three times its average daily volume in the past two months. by CNB