TALX Announces Second-Quarter Financial Results
ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 21, 1998--TALX Corporation (NASDAQ: TALX - news) today reported record revenues of $7.2 million for the second fiscal quarter ended September 30, 1998.
Revenues climbed 20 percent from the prior-year $6.0 million. Net loss was $3,000 for the second fiscal quarter, compared with net earnings of $444,000, or $.08 per share, in the same period a year ago.
Revenues for the six months ended September 30, 1998, increased 22 percent to $14.0 million from $11.4 million. Net earnings for the six months ended September 30, 1998, were $41,000, or $0.01 per share, compared with net earnings of $727,000, or $0.13 per share, for the comparable fiscal 1998 period.
''We were pleased that The Work Number and outsourced services lines of business achieved revenue growth rates of 116% and 61%, respectively, over the comparable quarter last year,'' William W. Canfield, chairman and chief executive officer, stated. ''Both the revenue and gross margins exceeded analysts' estimates in these lines of business.''
The Company reported that The Work Number for Everyone(R), a national service for providing automated employment and salary verification, which covers 10 percent of the employed population, continues its outstanding growth. The total number of employment records on the service increased to 15.6 million at September 30, 1998, from 10.2 million at September 30, 1997, and 14.3 million at the end of the prior sequential quarter. This represents a 53 percent increase over the prior year and a 9 percent increase over the prior sequential quarter. Total employment records under contract, including those in contract backlog to be added to the database, increased to 20.4 million at September 30, 1998, from 14.0 million at September 30, 1997, and 19.3 million at the end of the prior sequential quarter. This represents a 46 percent increase over the prior year and a 6 percent increase over the prior sequential quarter.
''We are disappointed in the overall second-quarter financial results, which fell short of our expectations due to a revenue shortfall in our software business -- customer premises systems,'' Canfield said. However, he noted, TALX has received an $800,000 commitment from a customer, subsequent to quarter-end, for systems to be delivered in the Company's third fiscal quarter. ''Among our lines of business, the software line is the one most affected by market volatility because its contracts tend to be large, complex and increasingly subject to clients' extensive internal review processes. Because customer premises is our largest division, its performance also has a pronounced effect on overall TALX performance.''
The shift to larger, more complex contracts in TALX's business, in large part due to the increasingly important role of the World Wide Web, is making the business backlog a more significant factor in the Company's operations. In the past, interactive voice response contracts tended to be signed and shipped very quickly, virtually eliminating quarter-to-quarter backlog. The revenue backlog in customer premises systems increased to $2.5 million at September 30, 1998, from $2 million at the beginning of the quarter. The backlog represents orders that will be fulfilled over the next nine to twelve months. Additionally, backlog for the next twelve months in the outsourced services business is approximately $2.4 million. The revenue ''run rate'' in The Work Number for Everyone(R) is approximately $8 million annually.
TALX Corporation provides interactive Web, interactive voice response (IVR), computer telephony integration (CTI) software and services to large organizations such as federal government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. The company's software and services enable an organization's employees, customers, vendors and business partners to access, input and update information without human assistance. These solutions can be integrated with today's popular enterprise resource planning (ERP) software products such as Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP. TALX Corporation is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, telephone 314/434-0046. Additional information about TALX may be obtained via the World Wide Web at talx.com.
Statements in this news release expressing the beliefs and expectations of management regarding future performance are forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the risks detailed in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 1998, and those described in other documents and reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, press releases and other communications. These include, but are not limited to, intense competition in the interactive web and interactive voice response industry, dependence on certain strategic marketing alliances, risks associated with technological change, a lengthy sales cycle, and the continued and increasing acceptance of The Work Number for Everyone(R). Actual results may differ materially from management's beliefs and expectations. |
