Melita International Reports Record Third Quarter Results
NORCROSS, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 1997--
Revenue up 46%, Net Income up 129%
Melita International Corporation (Nasdaq:MELI, www.melita.com), a leading provider of customer interaction and call
management systems, today reported record operating results for the three month and nine month periods ending Sept. 30,
1997.
Melita reported revenue of $16.9 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30, an increase of 46.1% compared to $11.6 million for
the same period in 1996. Net income increased 129.1% to a record high of $2.1 million, compared to pro forma net income
of $0.9 million for the same period in 1996. Earnings per share increased to $0.13 from pro forma earnings per share of $0.07
for the same period in 1996.
Melita reported revenue of $47.1 million for the nine-month period ending Sept. 30, compared to $34.5 million for the same
period in 1996, an increase of 36.6%. Pro forma net income increased 48.4% to $5.2 million compared to $3.5 million for the
first nine months of 1996. Pro forma earnings per share increased to $0.37 from $0.28 for the same period in 1996. Pro forma
income tax provisions are calculated using an effective tax rate of 38%.
J. Neil Smith, president, attributes the increase in revenue to the successful effort in further penetrating the rapidly growing call
center industry. ''Our continued growth stems from customers who recognize us for our ability to provide innovative solutions
and expert technical support to meet their changing needs.''
Sales successes in the quarter were in part due to further penetration of the telemarketing arena. Significant signings included a
number of agreements with Sitel Corporation, a global leader in providing outsourced telephone-based customer service and
sales programs. Sitel is installing the PhoneFrame CS call management systems at seven sites in three countries throughout
Europe. These installations are expected to be completed by the end of 1997.
Melita's international initiatives were recently strengthened by combining international customer support and sales into a single
organization. Lee Davies, former vice president of operations, was appointed vice president of international. ''Lee's
knowledge of Melita's overall support structure and international experience will enhance both our sales and customer service
in the global market,'' said Smith.
Building on the Company's commitment to enhancing customer service, the Melita Consulting Group was launched in
September. ''Although we have provided consulting services on a limited scale to our customers for some time, we have now
formalized this effort by establishing the Melita Consulting Group,'' said Smith. ''The Melita Consulting Group will focus on
helping customers improve call center productivity and provide a greater level of customer responsiveness by providing
training, system health checks, customization and other services. The goals are to build long-term relationships with new
customers, strengthen existing ones, and provide Melita an additional stream of revenue.''
Product innovation continued in the third quarter with the August launch of PhoneFrame(R) Explorer, the company's new
customer interaction and call management solution, which incorporates the proven performance of the PhoneFrame product
line with an innovative new architecture, MPower(TM). The MPower architecture enables the implementation of advanced
business solutions based on open systems and uses industry standard interfaces to integrate with other technology platforms.
MPower is object-oriented and based on CORBA open-standards architecture. PhoneFrame Explorer's Universal Telephony
Platform provides state-of-the-art telephony and call management functionality using the MPower architecture.
''Tomorrow's call centers will require new flexible architectures if they are to handle changing business and technology trends,''
said Aleksander Szlam, Melita's chief executive officer. ''In developing MPower, Melita made investment protection a key
design criterion, ensuring our customers the opportunity to migrate legacy systems to newer and more robust technologies.
MPower will support rapid implementation of new multi-media applications, reducing the complexity of system management
and doing so with a highly resilient platform.''
The PhoneFrame Explorer software suite will include new applications such as Dynamic Record Manager(TM), which allows
for real-time information exchange, WebContact software, which links call centers to the Internet, and a new version of
MAGELLAN(TM), Melita's desktop software application that guides call center agents through each customer interaction.
Szlam also commented, ''Our continued growth and development strategy are a testimony to Melita's leadership position in the
call center industry. Melita is again the first to market with significant innovations. This, combined with our commitment to
strong customer relationships, makes me confident that Melita is on the right track.''
Melita International, which began operations in 1983, is a leading provider of customer interaction and call management
systems that enable businesses to automate call center activities and enhance their telephony-based customer communication.
Melita's worldwide customers include, among others, leading organizations in the financial services, retail, media and
communications and service bureau industries.
Certain statements made in this press release, including statements relating to staffing and infrastructure, future demand for
Melita's products and services, expansion of domestic and international presence, future sales initiatives, and product
functionality and introductions, are forward-looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking
statements are made based on management's belief as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to,
management, pursuant to the 'safe-harbor' provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although the
Company believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of its knowledge of its
business, there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from its expectations. A discussion of certain
risk factors that may cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements can be found in Melita's Form 10-Q
for the period ending June 30, 1997, on file with the SEC, including the Risk Factors set forth in Exhibit 99.1 to the Form.
NOTE TO EDITOR: Melita(R), PhoneFrame Explorer(TM), MPower(TM), MAGELLAN(TM) and Dynamic Record
Manager are trademarks and registered trademarks of Melita International Corporation. |
