American Businessphones Blames Expansion Costs for Lower Profits

Blaming expansion costs, fast-growing American Businessphones Inc. of Irvine said that while it enjoyed a large jump in sales during its fourth quarter and for all of its fiscal 1986, profits for the year and the quarter dropped sharply.

The company, which sells, installs and services business telephone systems, said net income for its fiscal year ended June 30 fell 41.3% to $557,000 from $949,000 a year ago. Revenue increased 46.7% to $23.9 million from $16.3 million.

For the fourth quarter, net income fell 46.1% to $152,000 from $282,000 posted for the year-ago period. Revenue was $6.4 million, 31.4% above year-ago revenue of $4.8 million.