Press Releases >> ITEX Announces Results for Second Quarter of Fiscal 2009: March 9, 2009
<< Return to the Press ReleasesITEX Announces Results for Second Quarter of Fiscal 2009
Bellevue, WA March 09, 2009 ITEX Corporation (OTCBB: ITEX), The Membership Trading CommunitySM, a leading marketplace for cashless business transactions in North America, today filed its Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission and announced results for its fiscal 2009 second quarter ended January 31, 2009.
ITEX has been fortunate to be resilient to the fallout from the global financial crisis, said Steven White, Chairman and CEO. The current economic turmoil has resulted in an increase in media coverage of the benefits offered to businesses with the use of barter through the ITEX platform. New member registration increased 45% this quarter and 31% for the first two quarters of fiscal 2009 when compared to the same periods last year. To capitalize on these difficult economic times, we made a conscious decision at the beginning of this fiscal year to invest more in our technology, support staff, and sales, marketing and advertising efforts in order to build market share and increase future profits.
We saw a small increase in revenues for the quarter, Mr. White continued. Expenses and earnings were in line with what we expected. Selling, general and administrative costs increased this quarter primarily due to an increase in bad debt expenses related to increases in revenue and accounts receivable. Other contributing factors were increases in rents due to our August 2008 acquisition, investor relations expense and expenses related to our web services initiative. We have virtually no long term debt on our balance sheet and our short term acquisition debt has been reduced to $301,000. Three of our four acquisitions since August 2005 have been paid in full. All four acquisitions are now fully integrated into our operations and are contributing positively to our long-term strategies.
For the remainder of this fiscal year, we plan to continue to invest our cash flow and earnings in our future; to be aggressive in utilizing ITEX Marketplace resources. While other businesses slow spending, we seek to capture market share and capitalize on opportunities that arise in difficult economic conditions.
Second Quarter 2009 Highlights
- Revenue of $4,365,000 compared to $4,175,000 in the same period last year;
· Income from operations of $235,000 compared to $482,000 in the same period last year, reflecting the increase in selling, general and administrative costs in the quarter;
· Net cash provided from operations of $1,187,000 compared to $1,805,000 in the same six-month period last year;
· Cash at end of period was $1,207,000 compared to $1,061,000 at July 31, 2008;
· Registered 1,108 new members in the current quarter verses 765 last year and registered 2,052 for the six-month period versus 1,571 last year, a 45% and 31% increase respectively;
· Paid off the remaining balance of our note to The Intagio Group, Inc. for the recently acquired media services assets;
· Entered into an agreement with U.S. Bank to increase the maximum loan amount under our revolving credit facility from $1.0 million to $1.5 million and lower the interest rate.
Subsequent Events
· Signed our first Web Services SaaS agreement with a Fortune 1000 media company. The agreement grants the right to use our proprietary online marketplace, web interface and client relationship management platform for a $350,000 platform subscription fee, recurring transaction processing fees based on the gross value of transactional activity hosted by the platform, and support and consulting fees as rendered.
Our proprietary online marketplace, web interface and client relationship management platform (CRM) can be customized and branded for a variety of online marketplaces or communities. Our platform is unique in its ability to track both cash transactions and those based on non-cash, digital currencies.
ITEX Corporation's report on Form 10-Q can be found at www.sec.gov.
About ITEX
ITEX, The Membership Trading CommunitySM, is a thriving community of member businesses. Member businesses increase sales through an exclusive distribution channel managed by franchisees, licensees and corporate-owned locations, by utilizing ITEX dollars to exchange goods and services. ITEX is powered by ITEX Payment Systems, a leading payment technology platform for processing cashless business transactions. ITEX is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. We routinely post important information on the investor relations portion of our website.
Company Contact
Alan Zimmelman
ITEX Corporation
425.463.4017
Institutional Contact:
Budd Zuckerman
Genesis Select
303.415.0200
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning our expected performance (as described without limitation in the quotations from current management in this release) and comments within the safe harbor provisions established under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted and reported results should not be considered as an indication of our future performance. We believe that these potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: the continuing development of successful marketing strategies for our concepts; our ability to increase revenues and sustain profitability; the availability of adequate working capital; our dependence both on key personnel and our franchise network; and the effect of changes in the overall economy and in technology. Statements in this release should be evaluated in light of these factors. These risk factors and other important factors that could affect our business and financial results are discussed in our periodic reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Forms 10-K and Forms 10-Q, which are available at www.sec.gov. All information set forth in this release is as of March 9, 2009, and ITEX undertakes no duty to update this information. For more information, please visit www.itex.com
