BEDFORD, Mass., May 18 -- Spire Corporation reported revenues of $3,818,000 for the first quarter of 1999, compared with $4,443,000 for the first quarter of the prior fiscal year. Net loss for the quarter was $149,000, or five cents per share, as compared to net income of $17,000, or one cent per share for the same quarter of 1998.Roger G. Little, Spire's chairman and president, noted that the firm's photovoltaic equipment sales continued to be slow during the first quarter. He reported that Spire's customers have seen a recovery in the demand for their modules, which the company believes will translate into a need for more capital equipment. Little also commented that during the past quarter, Spire Optoelectronics made available its III-V epitaxial growth and processing facilities to start-up companies and the R&D departments of larger corporations in an effort to stimulate semiconductor and wafer market activity.