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Local Search Engine Earns $3.2 Million
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Irvine, California - (Website
Hosting Directory) - May 12, 2006 - Owner of search engine Local.com, Interchange, has reported its financial results for the first quarter 2006.
First Quarter Results and Highlights include:
-- Revenue was $3.2 million for the first quarter of 2006 which was at the high end of our guidance. Local search revenue was approximately $1.2 million which was $600,000 better than the previous quarter and $200,000 better than our guidance. National search revenue was approximately $2.0 million.
-- Net loss was $3.8 million for the first quarter of 2006, which was at the low end of our guidance. Basic and diluted net loss per share was $0.41. The net loss included $915,000, or $0.10 per share, of non-cash stock-based compensation as required with the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123R.
-- Cash and marketable securities were $12.0 million at March 31, 2006 with no material debt. The company used $2.3 million in cash during the quarter.
-- Released Local.com from beta.
-- Launched uk.local.com beta.
-- Traffic on Local.com grew to 8.6 million monthly unique visitors and 42 million page views in March.
-- Hired VP Product Management Vickie Young.
-- Entered into a number of local search partnerships including Fidelity Assets, Contractors.com, Judy's Book and Jambo.
-- Launched LocalConnect and Domain Dividends syndication products.
-- Engaged an investment banker to explore strategic options for national search business.
Heath Clarke, CEO of Interchange explained, ''For the second quarter in a row, local search revenues have exceeded our expectations. We continue to build on the three value creators in search: traffic; technology; and advertisers. Local.com finished the quarter ranked as the 123rd busiest website and sixth largest pure-play local search engine according to comScore. In the second quarter we will launch high-margin ad products on Local.com as we continue to monetize our high-quality traffic. Most important of all, the recent additions of Lee Siegfried as VP Engineering and Jennifer Black as VP Marketing, and the promotion of Bruce Crair to President and COO, complete a management team designed to take our company to the next level. We look forward to continuing to deliver on our goal of making Local.com number one in local search.''
The company expects second quarter 2006 revenue to be between $3.0 million and $3.2 million. Of this revenue, local search is expected to be approximately $1.6 million, which is an increase of approximately 40% over the first quarter 2006. The company expects net loss for the second quarter 2006 to be between $3.6 million and $3.8 million, which would be $0.39 to $0.41 per share. The loss per share forecast assumes 9.3 million outstanding shares.
The above guidance includes non-cash expenses of $1.2 million, or $0.13 per share, consisting of the following:
-- Non-cash stock-based expense of approximately $675,000, or $0.07 per share, resulting from the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123R as required beginning January 2006; and
-- Depreciation and amortization of $520,000, or $0.06 per share.
Based on the above guidance, the company expects to use approximately $2.5 million in cash in Q2.
Chairman and CEO Heath Clarke, President and COO Bruce Crair and CFO Doug Norman will participate in a conference call to discuss the results and outlook. A replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days at the company's website, starting approximately one hour after the completion of the call.
Interchange Corp. (Nasdaq:INCX) owns and operates Local.com (www.local.com), a leading local-search engine that now draws more than 8 million visitors per month seeking information on local businesses, products and services. Local.com is powered by the company's proprietary Keyword DNA and local-web indexing technologies. The company serves local and national Internet, wireless and operator-assisted local-search markets in the United States and Europe. Interchange generates revenue principally from paid-search advertising. The company recently launched a domain syndication network in the United States, launched Local.com in the United Kingdom (uk.local.com) and plans to expand into additional markets during 2006.
The company has headquarters in Irvine with European headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden.
To learn more about Interchange, please visit: www.interchangeusa.com
For more information about the webcast, please visit: http://ir.interchangeusa.com.
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