JTH Holding, Inc. TAX +0.30% (the "Company"), the parent company of Liberty Tax Service, today reported net income for the third fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2014 of $4.1 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, compared to $1.7 million, or $0.12 per share, in the prior year period. The Company also reported that U.S. customers served during the calendar year through February 28, 2014 increased 7.7% and systemwide revenue increased 13.3% from the same period in the prior year.
"We are pleased with the increases we are seeing this year and they are in-line with our expectations. We have continued to take market share even though we had fewer offices," said John Hewitt, CEO. "As we said in February, we were fortunate to be able to focus on our high performers, and the results so far this season speak for themselves. Our best performing franchisees embody our mission statement of 'Set the standard, improve each day and have some fun!' We are glad to be partners with them and look forward to helping them continue to expand their business and ours."
Revenues Revenues for the three months ended January 31, 2014 increased 8.3% to $40.7 million compared to $37.6 million in the prior year period. Revenues for the nine months ended January 31, 2014 increased 3.5% to $56.1 million compared to $54.2 million in the prior year period. The increase in revenue during both periods was primarily due to an increase in royalties and advertising fees, financial products and tax preparation fees. These revenue increases were mostly driven by higher volumes of returns and an increase in average net fees. In addition, much of the increase in tax preparation fees resulted from an increase in the number of online returns processed by the Company in part due to an acquisition of certain assets of an online tax preparation provider in early January 2014. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in franchise fees because the Company was unable to sell franchises during a portion of the second quarter of fiscal 2014 and a decrease in area developer fees due to the repurchase of several areas from area developers during fiscal 2014.
Operating Expenses Operating expenses for the three months ended January 31, 2014 increased 4.1% to $35.5 million compared to $34.1 million in the prior year period. Operating expenses for the nine months ended January 31, 2014 increased 5.1% to $73.8 million compared to $70.2 million in the prior year period. The increase in both periods was primarily due to an increase in general and administrative expenses, area developer expense and depreciation, amortization and impairment charges.
The increase in general and administrative expense was related to one-time restatement costs and an increase in bad debt expense related to the higher number of office closures. The increase in area developer expense was directly related to the increase in royalties. The increase in depreciation, amortization and impairment charges was primarily due to additional amortization expense related to acquired customer lists and area developer rights, along with placing the Company's NextGen software into service in fiscal 2014 and thus beginning to depreciate it. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in advertising expense in anticipation of the later start to the tax season and shifting more of those costs into the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014.
Balance Sheet The Company had a cash balance of $3.7 million at January 31, 2014. The Company has drawn $104.6 million on its revolving credit facility as of January 31, 2014 compared to $108.1 million as of January 31, 2013, to provide cash used in operating activities and operating loans to franchisees. As of February 28, 2014, the Company had a balance of $9.7 million on its revolving credit facility compared to $61.0 million as of February 28, 2013.
Operational Results During the calendar year through February 28, 2014, the Company has processed 1,250,000 returns in offices and online, an increase of 7.7% when compared to the same period last year. The number of returns processed in offices increased 6.1% to 1,148,000 and the number of returns processed online increased 29.1% to 102,000 compared to the same period last year partly due to the acquisition of certain assets of an online tax preparation provider.
Third Quarter Conference Call At 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, March 13, 2014, the Company will host a conference call to discuss its results from the third quarter of fiscal 2014. To listen to the call, dial 855-611-0856 (domestic) or 518-444-5569 (international), conference ID code 41557018, approximately 10 minutes prior to the start time of the call. The call will also be webcast in a listen-only format. The link to the webcast may be accessed on the Company's investor relations website at www.libertytax.com .
0 comments:
Post a Comment