Knobias Clip Report (08-06-2008) ABTL
Submitted By Knobias ClipReport
ABTL: CEO Comments and Shares Fall to Multi-Year Low on Q2 Results
By Fain Hughes, fhughes@knobias.com
Shares of Autobytel, Inc. (ABTL) fell to a multi-year low on Wednesday after the Company announced financial results for the 2008 second quarter ended June 30, 2008. Net loss for the second quarter of 2008 was $57.3 million, or $1.30 per share, including the impairment charge, compared with a net loss of $2.0 million, or $0.05 per share, for the second quarter of 2007, including $4.8 million in income from discontinued operations.
Jim Riesenbach, President and CEO of Autobytel, commented, “Against a difficult overall enviroment, we made significant progress in respect to removing costs, while creating a more streamlined and efficient infrastructure. The steps we have taken should enable us to capture future growth and better position us for profitability. Our operating expenses declined by more than $3.7 million year-over-year. We expect additional benefits in the quarters to come. We have also now begun implementing the next phase of cost reductions with an eye on making our organization even more efficient and sustainable, while mitigating the risk to our ability to grow the top line.”
He added, “We have reduced our negative cash flow, before working capital and capital expenditures, by more than 50% from the first quarter of 2008.”
“Despite the current market challenges, we are highly focused on the goal of achieving break-even, before working capital and capital expenditures, by the end of this year. We believe this will give us additional flexibility with respect to our capital structure and the many revenue opportunities before us. We are prepared to use every rational cost reduction tool to achieve break-even.”
Mr. Riesenbach noted, “Although it is not yet clearly reflected in our top line results, we believe that we are making very important progress. Our leads business performed reasonably well in a difficult market in Q2. For the short term, we expect the market difficulty to continue.Vehicle purchase decisionsare being delayed, and this is leading to a lower number of leads available in the marketplace. No one knows how long this negative pressure will continue, but we still firmly believe that our leads business can grow and become profitable in the long term.”
“Our advertising revenues have been very disappointing, as we have taken difficult, but necessary, steps to rebuild this revenue stream. While traffic decreased significantly during Q2, our traffic generation marketing was much more effective. In addition, we expect to gain traffic and advertising revenue through new advertising streams that include syndicated content. co-branding MyRide.com, local dealer advertising and our AutoReach ad network.”
He concluded, “While both the automotive and advertising categories are experiencing challenging times due to the broader economic climate, we believe that the internet automotive space will continue to grow over the coming years, and Autobytelis well positioned to capture significant revenue growth as a result. We stand ready to take whatever action is necessary to enhance shareholder value by driving revenue, further reducing costs, acquiring traffic, forming partnership combinations or other strategic alternatives.”
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