In a letter to its shareholders, US Nuclear Corp. laid out its plans for the coming year and took stock of what it had been through in 2020.
Robert Goldstein, chief executive of the Canoga Park radiation detection equipment manufacturer, wrote that due to restrictions and precautions taken in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the company’s manufacturing process stalled, which resulted in lower revenues when compared to 2018 and 2019.“During this period, in order to protect our workers, we reduced the number of working staff, rotated work schedules and hoarded our cash on-hand,” Goldstein wrote.
Since the spring, the company has been focused on returning its operations and sales to full normality, whether its employees have been working from home or in the office, he added.
“Towards the end of fourth-quarter 2020, bookings and quote requests were increasing, so we are expecting 2021 to be a cash positive growth year,” Goldstein said.
In addition to its radiation detectors, US Nuclear makes air and water monitors, as well as chemical and biological sensors. Its customers include national laboratories, hospitals, first responders, hazmat teams, homeland security, government and the military.New products in the pipeline include toxic material and bomb scanners for vehicles and containers inbound at seaports, airports and border crossings, Goldstein wrote in the letter.US Nuclear has three subsidiaries – Technical Associates in Canoga Park, which makes radiation detection equipment; Overhoff Technologies in Milford, Ohio, which specializes in tritium detection equipment; and Electronic Control Concepts, also in Milford, which makes voltmeters to check industrial and medical X-ray machines.In the letter, Goldstein went over the highlights of its partnerships with companies that it has a financial stake in.
US Nuclear, through its partners Magneto Inertial Fusion Technologies Inc. and MIFTEC Laboratories Inc., is promoting the use of a new type of fusion energy that can be used to power spacecraft to Mars and for colonies on that planet as well as the moon.US Nuclear owns a 10 percent stake in Magneto Inertial, in Tustin. MIFTEC Labs is a subsidiary of that company.Magneto Inertial is advancing its work building fusion power generators, while MIFTEC Labs is making the final tweaks to perfect a medical isotope generator to be manufactured by US Nuclear, Goldstein wrote.
Also, a year ago, the San Fernando Valley company took a 40 percent stake in Grapheton Inc., a San Diego company that makes components used in machine-brain interface devices.
Grapheton has several partnerships it is working on to advance its technology, Goldstein said in the letter.“As patent holders for the carbon based, bio-compatible probes and chips, we expect Grapheton to supply the markets for smart prostheses, industrial and military exoskeletons, imbedded communication chips and wearable stress and health sensors to track the health and readiness of U.S. and perhaps NATO troops,” Goldstein added.
He ended the letter outlining merger and acquisition plans.Prior to the shutdown caused by COVID-19, US Nuclear had identified four companies it wanted to acquire and was moving ahead with one of them, Goldstein wrote.
Due to the state of the economy, the company is now re-evaluating those target acquisitions, he added.“Although there is uncertainty regarding the future for many businesses, we are very confident about the essential need for our industry, and our goal is to complete one to two acquisitions this year,” Goldstein said.