YAVNE, Israel -- AOI equipment maker Orbotech today announced fourth-quarter sales fell 23% year-over-year to $99.4 million.

For the period ended Dec. 31, revenues rose 7.7% sequentially. The company trimmed its net loss to $5.4 million, from $5.5 million in the third quarter and $101.2 million including charges in 2008.

For the year revenues were down 12% to $377.6 million. The net loss was $19.9 million, or $0.58 per share, compared to a net loss of $135.3 million including charges in 2008.

In a press release, president and chief executive Rani Cohen said, “We are pleased with our performance during the year. Although 2009 was extremely challenging, we nevertheless took steps to build upon our strong technological position by maintaining our program of investment in research and development and customer support.”

Sales of equipment to the printed circuit board industry were $26 million, up from $20.3 million in the third quarter and $17.3 million in the fourth quarter 2008. During the quarter, the company’s PCB manufacturing customers continued to report high plant utilization rates. Orbotech said demand increased for laser direct imaging systems, and is expected to be strong into 2010.

In the quarter, the company signed an agreement with a leading PCB and IC chip carrier manufacturing company for up to 25 Paragon LDI systems and other PCB production equipment.