Aerovironment Inc (AVAV) SEC Filing 10-K Annual report for the fiscal year ending Monday, April 30, 2012

Exhibit 99.1

AeroVironment, Inc. Announces Fiscal 2012 Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year End Results

MONROVIA, Calif., June 26, 2012

“Record fourth quarter revenue of $111 million and earnings per share of $0.80 produced another year of profitable growth.  Revenue in 2012 was $325 million, and fully diluted earnings per share this year of $1.36 represents compound annual growth of more than 20 percent since 2010,” said Tim Conver, AeroVironment chairman and chief executive officer.  “Our team’s effective execution continued to help our customers win and delivered annual growth of 11 percent in revenue, 16 percent in earnings per share and 12 percent in funded backlog.  We also further enhanced our long-term growth prospects with important new capabilities in our unmanned aircraft systems and efficient energy systems business segments, benefiting our customers and our stakeholders.”

FISCAL 2012 FOURTH QUARTER RESULTS

Revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 was $110.7 million, up 4% over fourth quarter fiscal 2011 revenue of $106.1 million. The increase in revenue resulted from increased sales in our Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) segment of $6.4 million offset by decreased sales in our Efficient Energy Systems (EES) segment of $1.8 million.

Income from operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 was $25.7 million, an increase of $0.5 million from fourth quarter fiscal 2011 income from operations of $25.2 million. The increase in income from operations resulted from higher gross margin of $0.3 million and lower research and development (R&D) expense of $3.9 million offset by higher selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expense of $3.7 million.

Net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 was $17.8 million, an increase of $0.2 million from fourth quarter fiscal 2011 net income of $17.6 million.

Earnings per diluted share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 were $0.80, an increase of $0.01 from fourth quarter fiscal 2011 earnings per diluted share of $0.79.

FISCAL 2012 FULL YEAR RESULTS

Revenue for fiscal 2012 was $325.0 million, up 11% from fiscal 2011 revenue of $292.5 million. The increase in revenue resulted from increased sales in our UAS segment of $24.0 million and EES segment of $8.5 million.

Income from operations for fiscal 2012 was $43.1 million, an increase of $9.1 million from fiscal 2011 income from operations of $34.0 million. The increase in income from operations was caused by higher gross margin of $12.2 million and lower R&D expense of $4.8 million offset by higher SG&A expense of $7.9 million.

Net income for fiscal 2012 was $30.5 million, an increase of $4.6 million from fiscal 2011 net income of $25.9 million.

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