Computershare Slips Lower
The Age
Friday March 7, 2003
Computershare managing director Chris Morris yesterday announced an 84 per cent fall in net profit for the December half, but said the share registry was in the best financial and operational shape ever.
Management had delivered what it promised in terms of normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - a 25 per cent decline from the previous corresponding period to $54.9 million.
Nevertheless, the slump in net profit to $3.9 million, on revenue that fell 12 per cent to $348.7 million, sent the scrip as low as $1.37 before it finished at $1.56, down 5 on the day.
Mr Morris, who bought more shares yesterday morning, said revenue had been affected by a 37 per cent drop in corporate actions activity and a 33 per cent drop in margins income because of low interest rates.
Hinting at more staff cuts, Mr Morris said the company would continue to focus on costs.
He said the company expected to achieve full-year EBITDA in line with market expectations of $128-$145 million, although he could not predict when corporate actions activity would pick up.
Chief financial officer Tom Honan said Computershare was not looking at divesting any of its core businesses. ``It's not as though one business is dragging us down - it is pretty much across the board by geography and by business unit in general."
Mr Morris said Computershare had no plans to merge with another company, although it was looking at an acquisition.
Taking a swipe at the results of Computershare's main Australian share
registry rival, ASX/Perpetual Registrars, which reported a net loss of $400,000
due to depreciation charges, Mr Morris said: ``I'd be very embarrassed if we had
those sort of results out of our registry in Australia - we make substantially
more money than that."
COMPUTERSHARE Half-year to Dec 31 ($m) 2002-03 2001-02 Revenue 348.7 396.5 Depreciation 31.5 26.7 Interest 3.8 6.9 Tax 9.0 15.2 Net Profit 3.9 24.5 Int div (Mar 14) 2.5 0.5
© 2003 The Age