ADIC earns .22 (.14 after extraordinary gain).
ADIC Earns 22 Cents in Fourth Quarter on Sales of $76 Million as Revenue Growth Accelerates
Fiscal Year Earnings, Including Gains, Reach $89 Million, or $1.66 Per Share
REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 7, 2000--Advanced Digital Information Corporation (Nasdaq:ADIC - news) today announced earnings of $11.6 million, or 22 cents per diluted share, for the fourth quarter ending Oct. 31 and earnings of $88.9 million, or $1.66 per diluted share, for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31.
Earnings include a pre-tax net gain of $6.9 million for the fourth quarter and $97.3 million for the fiscal year primarily as a result of sales of Crossroads Systems, Inc. shares (Nasdaq:CRDS - news) owned by the Company. Excluding the effects of these gains, earnings were $7.5 million, or 14 cents per share, for the fourth quarter and $27.2 million, or 51 cents per share for the fiscal year.
``As anticipated, the fourth quarter demonstrated an acceleration in our revenue growth as a result of increased OEM shipments, strong sales of branded products and stabilization of our large library business,'' according to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter van Oppen. ``We are particularly pleased to see our core North American markets grow at rates in excess of 50 percent for the quarter and fiscal year while, despite an increase in lower margin OEM sales, reporting improved quarterly and annual gross margins of 35.6 percent and 35.2 percent, respectively,'' he said.
The Company said sales of products to OEM customers, including Dell Computer and IBM, totaled 28 percent of revenue for the fourth quarter compared to 21 percent for the third quarter ended July 31. Such sales do not include revenue for the new 7-cartridge autoloader based on DLT-1 tape technology which began shipping to Dell in the quarter nor any revenue for the 18-72 cartridge tape libraries expected to begin shipping to Dell in the current quarter.
President and Chief Operating Officer Chuck Stonecipher said, ``We continue to have an extremely strong cash position and compelling market opportunities. The reported acceleration in our growth rate this period helps validate our decision to increase spending rates over the last two quarters. Further, we believe the outlook is sufficiently promising to justify significant continued increases in sales, marketing, research and development expenditures over the next few quarters. Such spending is part of our investment to assure a continued leading position in the burgeoning market for software and hardware required to support the organization, protection and retrieval of large-scale electronic information.''
Selling and administrative expenses increased 42 percent to $14.8 million during the fourth quarter versus the same period a year ago. Research and development expenses were $4.4 million during the period, an increase of 13 percent. For the fiscal year, such expenses increased by 35 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
Cash and marketable equity securities total approximately $205 million at Oct. 31, a decrease of $23 million from the previous quarter, while Investments total approximately $21 million. Investments include the Company's remaining 500,000 shares of Crossroads Systems, Inc. as well as other private company equity investments. Gains recognized on sales of Crossroad's shares during the quarter were partially offset by reductions in the recorded value in certain investments which the Company believes reflects their current value.
About ADIC
With more than 70,000 automated tape libraries installed, innovative storage management software, Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (SAN) solutions, and Network Attach Storage (NAS) appliances, ADIC is the world's leading device-independent storage solutions provider to the open systems marketplace. The Company offers a broad range of products designed to help organizations stay more productive by making it easier for them to store, protect, manage and use their rapidly growing network data. ADIC's industry-leading line of automated storage products are available through a worldwide sales force and a global network of resellers and OEM partners, including Dell, IBM and Fujitsu Siemens. Further information about ADIC is available at adic.com.
Conference Call
There will be a conference call to discuss the fourth quarter fiscal 2000 earnings and fiscal 2001 outlook at 2pm PST on Dec. 7. The call can be accessed live on our website at www.adic.com/ir. |
