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HOUSTON -- Tidel Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATMS) announced record revenues and earnings for its second fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2000 -- its best quarter ever.

Net income jumped $1,893,000, or 302 percent, to $2,519,000 in the quarter ended March 31, 2000 from $626,000 in the same quarter a year ago. Tidel attributed the boost to continued strong domestic demand for its Ignition series ATM products.

Basic earnings per share was 15 cents a share for the quarter ended March 31, 2000 compared to four cents per share for the same quarter in 1999. Diluted earnings per share was fourteen cents versus four cents a year ago. Earnings per share topped Wall Street expectations for the quarter by 27 percent. According to First Call/Thomson Financial, the published estimate was 11 cents per diluted share.

Similar increases were posted for the six months ended March 31, 2000, with net income up 356 percent to $4,000,000 from $878,000 for the same period in 1999. Basic earnings per share was 25 cents per share for the six months ended March 31, 2000 compared to 6 cents per share for the year-to-date period in 1999. Diluted earnings per share for the six-month period was 22 cents versus five cents a year ago.

Total revenues increased 81 percent to a record $18,663,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2000, from the $10,286,000 in the same quarter a year ago and 35 percent from the $13,782,000 in the previous quarter ended Dec. 31, 1999. For the first six months of fiscal 2000, revenues increased 87 percent to $32,445,000 from $17,347,000 for the same six-month period in 1999.

As previously reported, the company set a record with 3,055 new ATMs shipped during the three-month period ended March 31, 2000 -- a 102 percent increase from the 1,511 units shipped in the same quarter of 1999. At March 31, 2000, the company's trailing twelve-month ATM shipments were 9,947 units, putting it at a pace to be the top deployer of off-premises ATMs in the U.S. for calendar 2000.

Tidel's net income margin improved for the second consecutive quarter to 13.5 percent of sales for the quarter ended March 31, 2000 compared to 6.1 percent in the comparable quarter of 1999 and 10.8 percent in the previous quarter ended Dec. 31, 1999.

ATM product sales were $15,104,000 in the quarter ended March 31, 2000, a 94 percent increase from the $7,771,000 in the same quarter in 1999, due to the record shipments.

James T. Rash, chairman and CEO, predicted that Tidel's Chameleon would have an impact on sales in the second half of the year.

"We are presently working with numerous companies, including several major U.S. corporations, to develop self-service kiosk applications using our new Chameleon platform. We are encouraged by the excitement generated for this product to date and believe our efforts will result in significant Chameleon orders later this year," Rash said.