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Acxiom posts quarterly profit despite one-time charges Thursday, Oct 25, 2007 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Acxiom Corp. reported a fiscal second-quarter profit of $10.5 million Wednesday, down from $21.7 million a year ago in the company's first earnings report since its $3 billion go-private buyout fell through. Revenues for the three-month period were $351 million, an increase of less than 1 percent from the same quarter last year. Company leader Charles Morgan spent a good portion of a conference call with investors defending the company's earnings results. "Thousands of hours of meetings (concerning the buyout) did nothing to help (earnings)," Morgan said, noting that the past quarter was "too much transaction, and too little business focus." Going forward, Morgan said the company will be "very focused on expense management." "We instituted an expense reduction plan during mid-September and we expect to see the benefit of the plan during the second half of the fiscal year," he said. Acxiom said unusual one-time expenses amounted to $14.8 million. During the quarter, costs related to Acxiom's terminated go-private transaction with Silver Lake and ValueAct Capital amounted to $2.3 million. On the year, Acxiom said it has incurred $17.4 million in expenses related to the buyout that Silver Lake and ValueAct called off. Other one-time charges during the most recent quarter included $4.9 million related to the write-off of certain long-term assets related to amended contracts with certain information technology outsourcing clients. Restructuring charges related to recent layoffs cost the company $5.3 million, while a least termination payment cost the company $2.3 million. For the fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2008, Acxiom said it expects revenue to be flat to up 1 percent compared to fiscal year 2007. Morgan said the company did not expect to see results from its most recent round of layoffs, in which more than 250 employees lost their jobs, until the next half of the fiscal year. Morgan said the layoffs would help grow margins approximately 12 percent in the final six months of the fiscal year. Five of the company's top clients have had "sluggish" revenue growth recently, and its top 30 clients' revenues were down 5.1 percent during the quarter, which in turn hurt Acxiom, Morgan said. For Acxiom's other clients, revenues grew by 8 percent, he said. Several of Acxiom's clients are banking corporations, which have endured tough times lately amid downturns in the mortgage and credit markets. Acxiom said it would no longer update financial guidance to investors. Morgan has announced he will step down as soon as a successor is found. Several candidates have emerged, he said Wednesday, noting the sense of urgency the company has to find a new CEO. Shares of Acxiom (Nasdaq: ACXM) closed Wednesday at $14.17, up 75 cents for a 5.6 percent gain. |
