Weiter auf Wachstumskurs - Prognosen angehoben.
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- eUniverse (Nasdaq: EUNI - News), the leading
interactive entertainment network, today reported financial results for its third quarter ended
December 31, 2002.
Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal year
million, up from $10.1 million for the same
period of fiscal 2002. Net income for the
million or $0.10 cents per fully diluted share,
compared to $2.0 million or $0.07 cents per
fully diluted share for the comparable quarter
of the prior year.
The Company's Products and Services
Business Segment experienced an
exceptionally strong third quarter, generating
revenue of $19.9 million, an increase of
approximately 184% from the previous
quarter. The Products and Services Business
Segment generated 76% of the overall
revenue for the third quarter, up from 56%
during the prior quarter. The Company contributes part of the significant rise in operating results
to seasonality relating to the holiday shopping season.
The Company's Media and Advertising Segment also experienced a strong quarter, contributing
$6.4 million in revenue. These results represented 16% growth from the second quarter of fiscal
2003.
For the third quarter of fiscal year 2003, the Company reported record earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA") of $3.9 million, marking the ninth consecutive
quarter the Company has produced positive cash from operations. EBITDA increased by 49%
from the comparable quarter of fiscal 2002.
During the third quarter, the Company continued its shift from advertising supported services to
paid products and services, growing its active paying customer base by approximately 28% from
the prior quarter, adding nearly 125,000 new customers. As of December 31, 2002, the
Company had already achieved its full year goal of obtaining 540,000 active paying customers
by improving its paying customer base to more than 570,000 customers.
For the nine months ended December 31, 2002, the Company's revenue was $50.2 million, an
increase of 129% over the same period of the prior year. Net income for the nine months ended
December 31, 2002, improved 139% to $7.8 million, up from $3.3 million for the comparable
period in the prior year. Fully diluted earnings per share for the nine months ended December
31, 2002, were $0.25 cents compared to $0.13 cents for the same period in fiscal 2002.
Excluding extraordinary items and non-recurring charges, net income for the nine months ended
December 31, 2002, was $7.1 million, or $0.24 cents per fully diluted share.
"Our explosive growth and record operating performance this past quarter are a direct result of
our focused execution to build a diversified business with multiple strong operations, and the
ability to deliver long-term sustainable growth," said Brad Greenspan, Chairman and CEO of
eUniverse. "While we received a partial lift from seasonality this past quarter, we entered our
fourth quarter with good momentum and a strong plan to continue to scale our business. We will
continue to invest in our current portfolio of properties as well as new and innovative products
and services that we will offer to our rapidly expanding customer base. I am very excited about
our current internal growth plans and the opportunities currently in the marketplace for making
strategic acquisitions. In addition, management plans to proactively reach out to the financial
community in 2003 in order to gain better recognition for eUniverse which we believe is under
followed in the marketplace. With our hyper growth and seventh consecutive quarter of
profitability, we owe it to our shareholders to be proactive in order to narrow the gap between the
current market valuation of eUniverse and that of other publicly traded online companies which
enjoy on a comparable basis significantly larger valuations or P/E multiples while exhibiting less
net income, slower growth rates, and/or less diversified business models than eUniverse. We are
looking forward to working extremely hard in 2003 to build even more long term shareholder
value."
Financial Outlook
For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003, the Company is forecasting revenue and net income of
$23.0 million and $3.5 million, respectively. Fully diluted earnings per share for the quarter are
expected to be $0.10 cents.
For fiscal 2003, the Company is increasing its revenue and net income forecast to $73.2 million
and $11.3 million, respectively. Fully diluted earnings per share are expected to be $0.35 cents.
Our previous forecast issued in December 2002 had revenue and net income targets of $59.7
million and $11.2 million, respectively. Excluding extraordinary items and non- recurring charges,
our net income forecast is $10.6 million. Fully diluted earnings per share on this basis are
expected to be $0.33 cents.
"We are very pleased with our operating results for the third quarter as we beat our revised
earnings forecast by approximately 10%," said Joe Varraveto, Chief Financial Officer of
eUniverse. "During the quarter, we took the opportunity to invest a majority of the operating
windfall we experienced from seasonality in certain growth initiatives. We also increased our
receivables reserve to adjust for the rapid growth in our business during the quarter. During the
fourth quarter, we will continue to focus our efforts on improving our margins by taking greater
advantage of our scale leverage and implementing certain productivity measures."
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