TALX Reports Fourth-Quarter Earnings Per Share Nearly Triples
Wednesday May 7, 4:33 pm ET
biz.yahoo.com
ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 7, 2003--TALX Corporation (NASDAQ:TALX) today reported earnings of $4.0 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, 2003, compared with $1.4 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, for the year-ago period. The earnings increase was due principally to the 42 percent revenue growth in The Work Number services and the strong impact of the unemployment cost management business, acquired in March 2002. Revenues increased to $33.7 million from $11.2 million the prior year.
Earnings for fiscal 2003 were $12.7 million, or $0.90 per diluted share, compared with $3.9 million or $0.29 per share, for fiscal 2002. Excluding the $1.9 million, or $0.14 per share, after-tax impact of a restructuring charge and inventory write-downs in the prior year, earnings grew 109 percent, from $5.8 million, or $0.43 per share. Revenues increased to $125.7 million from $44.6 million.
William W. Canfield, president and chief executive officer, commented, "This year at TALX was outstanding in so many ways, both in terms of executing our strategy and providing value to shareholders. We achieved strong financial results, at both the top line and the bottom line. In addition to record revenues and earnings, during fiscal 2003 we:
Achieved $9 million in annualized revenue from our cross-selling program;
Surpassed sales goals established for new contract bookings for both The Work Number services and unemployment cost management businesses;
Generated $28.7 million cash from operating activities;
Repurchased 486,000 shares for $5.6 million; and
Paid $1.6 million in dividends and increased the dividend rate by 33 percent during the most recent quarter."
The company reported that for the fiscal fourth quarter, The Work Number services revenues rose 42 percent to $10.7 million, from $7.6 million in the year-ago period, and grew 32 percent for the full year. The total number of employment records on the service increased to 76.4 million at March 31 from 60.7 million a year ago and 72.0 million at the end of the prior quarter, representing gains of 26 percent and 6 percent, respectively. Total employment records under contract, including those in backlog to be added to the database, increased to 82.0 million at March 31 from 70.2 million a year earlier and 78.6 million at the end of the previous quarter, for increases of 17 percent and 4 percent, respectively. The Work Number's employment and income verification service managed 997,000 transactions during the quarter ended March 31, compared to 572,000 in the year-ago quarter and 907,000 during the prior sequential quarter. The increase in transactions was attributable to an increase in the number of records available on the database, strong mortgage activity, and an increasing usage of the service by large verifiers.
In addition to strong revenue growth in the fourth quarter, the company reported gross margin improvement throughout its business. The overall gross margin percentage increased 340 basis points from the year-ago quarter, to 55.3 percent. The gross margin in The Work Number was 67.0 percent and bettered the prior-year amount by 230 basis points. The gross margin for unemployment cost management was 50.1 percent for the fiscal fourth quarter, which was the best performance since the business was acquired in late March 2002. These gross margin gains, coupled with a 40-basis-point reduction in operating expenses from the prior year, contributed to a 20.2 percent operating margin, which represents a 380-basis-point improvement compared to the year-ago quarter.
The company expects that it will maintain revenue and earnings growth, as it continues to effectively market its suite of payroll-data centric services. The company reaffirmed financial guidance for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004, adjusted for the sale of the human resources and benefits application services business to Workscape, Inc., as follows:
Total revenues - $125 - $128 million;
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations - $1.08 - $1.12; and
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations for the quarter ending June 30, 2003 - $0.18 - $0.20.
Comparative results for fiscal 2003, excluding the $10.2 in revenues and $0.13 of earnings per share from the human resources and benefits application services business, are as follows:
Total revenues - $115.5 million;
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations - $0.77; and
Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations for the quarter ending June 30, 2002 - $0.16.
A conference call to discuss the company's performance during its fiscal 2003 fourth quarter and full year, as well as its outlook, is scheduled for Thursday, May 8, at 9:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time. To participate in this call, dial (888) 423-3280. A slide presentation will accompany the call on the Web at www.talx.com/2003. Other information of investor interest can be found at www.talx.com/investor. A digitized replay of the call will be in effect from 12:30 p.m. CDT on May 8 through midnight on Friday, May 9. The replay number is (800) 475-6701 and the access code is 682666.
TALX Corporation is a leading business process outsourcer for payroll data-centric services. TALX holds a leadership position in two key employment-related services - automated employment and income verification services via The Work Number® and unemployment cost management services via UC eXpress(SM). TALX also provides paperless payroll services, W-2 services, and automated time entry services. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, TALX Corporation's common stock trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market® under the symbol TALX. For more information about TALX Corporation call 314-214-7000 or access the company's Web site at talx.com. |
