II-IV and Saxonburg sign

Saxonburg-based II-VI announced last week robust earnings for its fourth quarter, with operating income rising 65 percent to $67.4 million from $40.7 million a year ago.

In February, the manufacturing company's leaders expressed concerns that the coronavirus outbreak would hurt its earnings. And with half of its workforce in China, the company noted that much of its employees there were out of work for an extended Chinese New Year. But earnings for this final fiscal year quarter proved otherwise. The forced transformation by the virus to more online work helped the company gain a 25 percent increase in the company's communications market, which represented most of the growth for this quarter, according to a press release from the company. Communications also comprised about 72 percent of the company's revenue for the fourth quarter.

“Our financial fundamentals are strong. We achieved record cash flow from operations, undertook a very successful equity raise and delivered free cash flow at about $150 million above the acquisition business case,” said CEO Vincent D. Mattera in the news release.

Mattera also said health precautions were observed during the outbreak of the virus.

“In the fourth quarter, we remained and continue to remain vigilant and steadfast in ensuring the health and safety of our global workforce while striving to meet our customers' growing expectations despite the continuation and acceleration of COVID-19. We also made great progress against our key business initiatives. The power of our vertically integrated and geographically diverse footprint and business model allowed our employees to deliver exceptional results, including record revenues and backlog,” Mattera said.

The company has six locations in China for manufacturing operations and product development and employs nearly half of its 22,000-member workforce in the country.