For the record, here is Earnings and Split press release:
Use this copy to read the text (in Normal Font).
biz.yahoo.com
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Tuesday March 16, 4:01 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Comverse Technology Announces Record Fourth Quarter And Fiscal 1998 Results And Declares 3-For-2 Stock Split
Fourth Quarter Diluted EPS Of $0.66 On Sales Of $190.1 Million; Fiscal 1998 Diluted EPS Of $2.33 On Sales Of $696.1 Million
WOODBURY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 16, 1999-- Comverse Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMVT - news) announced for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 1998, ended January 31, 1999, record net income after taxes of $32,369,000 ($0.66 per diluted and $0.72 per basic share), and record sales of $190,102,000.
The Company's Board of Directors also declared a three-for-two stock split, to be paid as a 50 percent stock dividend on its common stock. The stock dividend will entitle each stockholder of record at the close of business on March 31, 1999 to three shares for every two shares of Comverse Technology common stock held on that date. Comverse will pay cash in lieu of fractional shares. Shares resulting from the split are expected to be distributed by Comverse's transfer agent on April 15, 1999.
For fiscal year 1998, ended January 31, 1999, Comverse posted record net income of $111,527,000 ($2.33 per diluted share; $2.52 per basic share), and record sales of $696,094,000.
Kobi Alexander, Chairman, President and CEO of Comverse stated, ''Our products continue to be used by a growing number of customers. Comverse's enhanced services platforms have now been selected by more than 280 wireless and wireline telecommunications network operators in more than 70 countries, enabling the provision of revenue-generating value-added services including call answering, unified messaging (voice, fax, and e-mail in a single mailbox), pre-paid wireless services, one-touch call return, short text messaging, and other personal communication services. Our digital monitoring and recording systems continue to take advantage of a major global market transition, as customers such as call centers and law enforcement and intelligence agencies continue to replace their outdated analog, tape recorder-based equipment with Comverse's advanced digital technology.''
Comverse ended the year with cash and cash equivalents, bank time deposits and short-term investments of $657,617,000, working capital of $707,281,000, total assets of $1,031,393,000 and stockholders' equity of $381,662,000.
Financial highlights are as follows:
Financial Highlights
(In thousands, except per share data)
Three Months Ended
January 31,
1999
Operations Data:
Sales $190,102
Cost of sales $ 75,160
Research and development, net $ 36,008
Selling, general and administrative $ 41,179
Royalties and license fees $ 4,662
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Income from operations $ 33,093
Interest and other income, net $ 2,546
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Income before income tax provision $ 35,639
Income tax provision $ 3,270
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Net income $ 32,369
Weighted average shares, diluted 49,171
Net income per share, diluted $ 0.66
Net income per share, basic $ 0.72
The financial statements for the fourth quarter of fiscal 1997
include only two months of results for Boston Technology, Inc., which
merged with Comverse Technology, Inc. Accordingly, they do not provide
a meaningful comparison.
Year Ended Year Ended
December 31, January 31,
1996 1997(a) 1999
Sales $389,639 $488,940 $696,094
Cost of sales $169,524 $202,640 $279,690
Research and development,
net $ 66,228 $ 96,626 $132,820
Selling, general and
administrative $ 93,604 $138,305 $151,985
Royalties and license
fees $ 10,443 $ 12,325 $ 16,552
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Income from operations $ 49,840 $ 39,044 $115,047
Interest and other
income, net $ 2,467 $ 4,879 $ 8,263
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Income before income
tax provision $ 52,307 $ 43,923 $123,310
Income tax provision $ 10,170 $ 9,398 $ 11,783
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Net income $ 42,137 $ 34,525 $111,527
Net income per share,
diluted $ 1.01 $ 0.75 $ 2.33
Net income per share,
basic $ 1.10 $ 0.81 $ 2.52
(a) The financial statements for fiscal 1997 include only eleven
months of results for Boston Technology, Inc., which merged with
Comverse Technology, Inc.
Financial Highlights
(continued)
January 31,
1998 1999
(In thousands of dollars)
Balance Sheet Data:
Cash, cash equivalents, bank
time deposits and short-term
investments $ 276,902 $ 657,617
Total assets $ 527,652 $1,031,393
Working capital $ 280,793 $ 707,281
Stockholders' equity $ 231,390 $ 381,662
Comverse Technology, Inc., headquartered in Woodbury, NY, designs, develops, manufactures and markets computer and telecommunications systems for a variety of communications and information processing applications. Comverse's products include: multimedia enhanced services platforms marketed under the names Access NP® and TRILOGUE® INfinity(TM), which are currently used by more than 280 wireless and wireline telecommunications network operators to provide revenue-generating services such as call answering, unified messaging (voice, fax, and e-mail in a single mailbox), pre-paid services and other personal communications services; multiple channel, multimedia digital monitoring systems marketed to law enforcement and intelligence agencies under the name AUDIODISK(TM); and multiple channel, multimedia digital recording systems marketed to call centers, financial institutions and other organizations under the name ULTRA(TM). Comverse Technology is a NASDAQ 100 Index company.
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Contact:
Comverse Technology, Inc., Woodbury
Kobi Alexander
Paul D. Baker
516/677-7200
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