Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:09am EDT, (Reuters) -

Canadian solar technology company Arise Technologies Corp posted its first-ever quarterly profit helped by lower costs and higher demand for its technology.

For the January-March quarter, Arise posted a profit of C$2.4 million ($2.4 million), or 1 Canadian cent a share, compared with a loss of C$5.9 million, or 4 Canadian cents, a year ago.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company, which makes photovoltaic (PV) cells and operates in most of Europe, said revenue for the quarter fell 33 percent to C$10.9 million.

Sales from its systems division, which provides rooftop and ground-mounted PV installations, rose to C$1.0 million from C$0.6 million.

While Italy's re-instatement of their feed-in tariff program and European new content requirements removed most of the uncertainty in the European markets, the company is waiting for Germany's announcement regarding its support of the solar industry, Chief Executive Dan Shea said in a statement.

The company gets over half its revenue from Germany, while Italy and France contribute about 11-14 percent each.

Operating expenses fell 14 percent to C$3.6 million in the quarter.

Shares of the company closed at 10 Canadian cents on Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Arnika Thakur in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza)