Note 11 - Business Segment Information

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 11.  Business Segment Information

Management views the Company as operating in two major business segments:  Power and Energy Group, and All Other operations.

The Power and Energy Group develops, produces, and sells battery systems.  The All Others group consists of the remaining portions of the previous Life Sciences and Performance Materials groups.  Management completed a thorough review of operations and strategies and determined that it was in the best interests of the shareholders of the Company to focus primarily on the Power and Energy Group.  As a result of this assessment resources devoted to the Performance Materials Group and Life Sciences Group were considerably reduced and no new development is being pursued in those areas by the Company.  For both quarters presented, the activity relating to the Performance Materials and Life Sciences divisions have been reclassified into All Other operations.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, the Company and its affiliates received a total of $3.2 million in payments for its various Power and Energy Group projects. The bulk of these cash payments were associated with contractual milestone payments for our larger utility-scale energy storage system projects. However, the total amount of these cash payments has not been recognized in our reportable segment data for the quarter, as the related contracts are recognized under the completed contract method.

Reportable segment data reconciled to the consolidated financial statements as of the three-month and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2012 and September 30, 2011 is as follows:

 In thousands of dollars

Three Months	Net Sales		Loss (Income) From Operations			Depreciation and Amortization		Assets
September 30, 2012
Power & Energy Group	$	296	$	4,483		$	233	$	54,087
All Other		64		(44	)		19		353
Consolidated Total	$	360	$	4,439		$	252	$	54,440
September 30, 2011
Power & Energy Group	$	795	$	5,136		$	240	$	71,166
All Other		60		(40	)		19		424
Consolidated Total	$	855	$	5,096		$	259	$	71,590

Nine Months	Net Sales		Loss (Income) From Operations			Depreciation and Amortization		Assets
September 30, 2012
Power & Energy Group	$	886	$	14,507		$	714	$	54,087
All Other		185		(125	)		57		353
Consolidated Total	$	1,071	$	14,382		$	771	$	54,440
September 30, 2011
Power & Energy Group	$	3,219	$	15,028		$	956	$	71,166
All Other		663		(33	)		57		424
Consolidated Total	$	3,882	$	14,995		$	1,013	$	71,590

In the table above, the Loss from Operations column includes such expenses as business consulting, general legal expense, accounting and audit, general insurance expense, stock-based compensation expense, shareholder information expense, investor relations, and general office expense. As noted in the prior section, $3.2 million in contractual milestone and other payments associated with our utility-scale energy storage system projects were not deemed as recognizable revenue for the quarter, and thus were not included in the table.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2012, long-lived assets decreased by $180,401 for the Power and Energy Group.  For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, long-lived asset increased by $572,746.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2012, we had sales to four major customers, each of which accounted for 10% or more of recognizable revenues. The company had no sales to related parties during the nine months ended September 30, 2012. Total sales to these customers for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and the balance of their accounts receivable at September 30, 2012 were as follows:

 In thousands of dollars

Customer	Sales Nine Months Ended September 30, 2012		Accounts Receivable Balance at September 30, 2012
Power and Energy Group:
Emrol	$	139
Hybricon		131
Proterra		121	$	121
ABB Secheron		111		2

For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, we had sales to two major customers, each of which accounted for 10% or more of revenues. Total sales to these customers for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 and the balance of their accounts receivable at September 30, 2011 were as follows:

 In thousands of dollars

Customer	Sales Nine Months Ended September 30, 2011		Accounts Receivable Balance at September 30, 2011
Power and Energy Group:
Yintong Energy (YTE)*	$	1,779	$	-
Proterra, LLC		1,045	$	6

*YTE (an affiliate of Canon) became a related party, as of July 21, 2011.

Revenues for the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2012, and 2011 by geographic area were as follows:

In thousands of dollars

Geographic information (a):	Sales Nine Months Ended September 30, 2012		Sales Nine Months Ended September 30, 2011
United States	$	251	$	1,861
Germany		145
Belgium		139
Sweden		131
Switzerland		111
Other foreign countries		294		242
China				1,779
Total	$	1,071	$	3,882