HELO blows away estimates on record earnings.
Go HELO!
A sign of a well run company is when increased sales translate into better increases in operating earnings and profits. I.E. incremental sales $ fall to to the bottom line easily.
biz.yahoo.com
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Wednesday October 20, 4:00 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Hello Direct
Hello Direct Reports Record Revenue and Net Income in Third Quarter
Revenue Up 19% Over Previous Year Net Income Up 57% Over Previous Year Outbound Telemarketing Sales Up 81% Over Previous Year Web Site Sales Up 152% Over Previous Year
SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Hello Direct, Inc. (Nasdaq: HELO - news), the leading developer and direct marketer of telephone productivity tools, today reported financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 1999. For the eleventh consecutive quarter, the Company achieved increased net sales and income over the comparable prior year period.
Net sales for the third quarter were a record $20.2 million, an increase of 19 percent over net sales of $17.0 million in the same quarter of the prior year. Net income for the quarter was a record $1 million, or $0.20 per share (on 5,321,000 diluted shares outstanding), a 57 percent increase over net income of $664,000, or $0.13 per share (on 5,177,000 diluted shares outstanding), in the third quarter of 1998.
The Company also reported third quarter operating income of $1.5 million, a 67 percent increase over operating income of $907,000 in the same quarter last year.
For the nine months, net sales reached $59.0 million, a 14 percent increase over net sales of $51.5 million in the same period of the prior year. Net income for the nine months was $2.8 million, or $0.52 per share (diluted), an increase of 50 percent over net income of $1.8 million, or $0.36 per share, in the first nine months of 1998.
''I am extremely pleased with the acceleration of our sales and income growth,'' said Alec Glover president and CEO, ''especially because it reflects strong market response to every one of our key strategic initiatives. In particular, the continued expansion of our Corporate Accounts outbound telemarketing group has increased our penetration of the call center market. A greater share of our business coming from corporate accounts is important, because these customers typically order more frequently, and place larger orders for our highest margin products. Further development of our Web site, www.hellodirect.com, and traffic-building activities, including assembling a network of now over 450 affiliates, has helped keep the Internet our fastest growing channel, and driven our Internet revenue to 12% of total quarterly revenue, compared to 5% in same quarter last year. Clearly, this momentum suggests that we are continuing to strengthen our position as the preeminent online marketplace for telecommunications,'' he added.
According to Glover, the Company's new proprietary products also contributed to the Company's higher revenue and income growth rates. ''We are continuing to see strong demand for the new generation of Hello Direct headsets which we introduced earlier this year. They provide the user greater comfort and improved performance by incorporating our patented technology, and most-recently developed and patent-pending design and features. In addition, the need continues to grow for our patented equipment-interface technology, including the LineStein analog-to-digital adapter, because of more widespread use of analog devices, such as headsets, modems and teleconferencing units, in proprietary digital PBX environments,'' he said.
The Company's gross margin for the quarter was 55.4 percent, compared with gross margin of 54.2 percent in the third quarter of 1998. Average order size reached $299, up from $266 in the same quarter of last year.
Hello Direct also reported that cash and short-term investments as of September 30, 1999 were $6.7 million, compared with $9.6 million as of December 31, 1998. Working capital as of September 30, 1999 was $17.8 million, compared with working capital of $19.2 million at the close of the year. The decrease in working capital results from stock repurchases, the purchase of PhoneZone.com, and the purchase of capital assets. Shareholder equity as of September 30, 1999 was $32.1 million, or $6.02 per share (diluted). |
