Earnings Per Share Match All-Time High
ANNAPOLIS, Md., April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- FTI Consulting, Inc. (AMEX: FCN),
today announced preliminary results for the quarter ended March 31, 2001. All
results are unaudited. Comparisons to "last year" refer to the comparable
period in the prior year, including pro forma financial results for the first
quarter of the prior year that contain the results of Policano & Manzo L.L.C.,
("P&M"), for January 2000, the month prior to its acquisition by FTI, and
exclude extraordinary items.
For the quarter, revenues increased 24 percent to $41.5 million, compared
with $33.5 million in the prior year. Net income was $3.8 million, an
increase of 73 percent over the $2.2 million income in the prior year.
Earnings per share exceeded analysts' consensus estimates by 10 percent and
matched the record $0.32 per share achieved in the prior year despite a
74 percent increase in the number of diluted share equivalents. As previously
reported, earnings per share for the first quarter of 2000 were unusually
high, primarily due to the extraordinary demand for the services of our
Financial Consulting Division and the temporary over-utilization of employees
to meet that demand in the short term. Since that time, FTI has increased the
work force in the division to address the continuing demand at more realistic
and sustainable utilization rates.
Earnings per share for the first quarter of 2001 were based on
12.0 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding compared to
6.9 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding during the comparable
quarter. The increase was attributable primarily to the issuance of
4.03 million additional shares of common stock in an underwritten public
offering in October 2000. A greater number of common stock equivalents caused
by a significant increase in the average price of FTI stock during the quarter
also affected results negatively by $0.01 per share.
Earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation and amortization
("EBITDA") were also an all-time high for the company, increasing by
18 percent to $10.3 million for the first quarter of 2001, compared with
$8.7 million in the first quarter of 2000. Cash generated was used to pay
down debt, and since the beginning of the year, the company has reduced debt
from $60.5 million to $56.4 million.
With regard to the Company's three operating segments, two of them also
achieved record financial milestones during the quarter. Financial
Consulting's revenues for the quarter were a record $24.2 million compared to
$15.0 million last year, an increase of 61%. Segment profit was also a record
at $9.7 million compared to $6.7 million last year, an increase of 45%. For
Applied Sciences, revenues were a record $10.2 million compared to
$10.0 million last year, while segment profit was $1.7 million compared to
$2.0 million last year. This decline was due primarily to differences in
sales mix from the unusually profitable first quarter of the prior year. For
Litigation Consulting, revenues were $7.1 million compared to $8.5 million in
the prior year, and segment profit was $1.0 million compared to $2.2 million
in the prior year. As stated previously, management continues to monitor this
business closely. Improving results toward the end of the quarter provided
some encouragement that the steps taken by division management to contain
costs while developing the New York market may be beginning to produce
results.
About FTI Consulting
FTI Consulting is a multi-disciplined consulting firm with leading
practices in the areas of bankruptcy and financial restructuring, litigation
consulting and engineering/scientific investigation. Modern corporations, as
well as those who advise and invest in them, face growing challenges on every
front. From a proliferation of "bet-the-company" litigation to increasingly
complicated relationships with lenders and investors in an ever-changing
global economy, U.S. companies are turning more and more to outside experts
and consultants to meet these complex issues. FTI is dedicated to helping
corporations, their advisors, lawyers, lenders and investors meet these
challenges by providing a broad array of the highest quality professional
practices from a single source.
This press release includes "forward-looking" statements that involve
uncertainties and risks. There can be no assurance that actual results will
not differ from the company's expectations. The company has experienced
fluctuating revenues, operating income and cash flow in some prior periods and
expects that this may occur from time to time in the future. As a result of
these possible fluctuations, the company's actual results may differ from our
projections. Other factors that could cause such differences include pace and
timing of additional acquisitions, the company's ability to realize cost
savings and efficiencies, competitive and general economic conditions, and
other risks described in the Company's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
A press release containing financial tables will be available on April 26,
2001, and our regularly-scheduled quarterly conference call will be broadcast
live on the web at 11:00 a.m. ET that day. Call details will be available on
our web-site and through various financial news services prior to the call.
For further information regarding FTI Consulting, Inc. free of charge via
fax, dial 1-800-PRO-INFO and enter "FCN"
FTI is on the Internet at http://www.fticonsulting.com and at
http://www.ftiwarroom.net .
SOURCE FTI Consulting, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.fticonsulting.com
CONTACT:
Jack Dunn, Chairman & CEO of FTI Consulting,
410-224-1483; General Inquiries, Marilyn Windsor, 312-640-6692,
or Analyst Inquiries, Doug Broderick, 312-640-6780, or Media
Inquiries, Tim Grace, 312-274-2240, all of The Financial
Relations Board BSMG Worldwide
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