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Answers Corporation Reports Q2 2009 Financial Results
Tuesday, August 04, 2009 7:46 AM


Record Revenue of $5 Million and Adjusted EBITDA of $1.9 Million

Answers Corporation (NASDAQ: ANSW), creators of the leading answer engine Answers.com® which includes the properties ReferenceAnswers™ and WikiAnswers®, today reported unaudited financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2009.

Chairman and CEO Robert S. Rosenschein commented, "Answers had another excellent quarter, hitting record revenues, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 38%. These results highlight the strength of our business model and the continued growth of WikiAnswers. According to comScore, even in the summer month of June, our combined sites reached 26.2 million unique U.S. visitors, putting us at #31. We are looking forward to launching the international versions of WikiAnswers, and we remain very upbeat about the rest of 2009."

Q2 2009 Financial Results

  • Revenues were $5.00 million in Q2 2009, an increase of 6% compared to $4.75 million in Q1 2009, and an increase of 67% compared to $3.00 million in Q2 2008.
  • WikiAnswers revenues were $3.40 million in Q2 2009, an increase of 8% compared to $3.16 million in Q1 2009, and an increase of 127% compared to $1.50 million in Q2 2008.
  • ReferenceAnswers revenues were $1.59 million in Q2 2009, an increase of 1% compared to $1.57 million in Q1 2009, and an increase of 7% compared to $1.49 million in Q2 2008.
  • Adjusted operating expenses in Q2 2009, were $3.11 million, an increase of 4% compared to $3.00 million in Q1 2009, and a decrease of 15% compared to $3.67 million in Q2 2008.
  • Adjusted EBITDA in Q2 2009 was $1.90 million, an increase of $0.16 million compared to $1.74 million in Q1 2009 and an increase of $2.57 million compared to negative $0.67 million in Q2 2008.
  • GAAP operating income in Q2 2009 was $1.20 million, an increase of $0.10 million compared to $1.10 million GAAP operating income in Q1 2009 and an increase of $5.81 million compared to $4.61 million GAAP operating loss in Q2 2008. GAAP operating loss in Q2 2008 included $3.14 million for the write off of the Brainboost Answer Engine.
  • GAAP net loss in Q2 2009 was $3.62 million, a decrease of $6.66 million, compared to $3.04 million GAAP net income in Q1 2009 and an improvement of $1.00 million compared to $4.62 million GAAP net loss in Q2 2008.

See Appendix A of this earnings release for the 2008 and 2009 quarterly traffic, revenue and RPM data of our two Web properties.

Business Outlook – Third Quarter and Full Year 2009

The following business outlook is based on the Company’s current information and expectations as of August 4, 2009. Answers undertakes no obligation to update the outlook, or any portion thereof, prior to the release of the Company’s next earnings announcement, notwithstanding subsequent developments; however, Answers may update the outlook or any portion thereof at any time at its discretion.

Three months ending

September 30, 2009

 

Twelve months ending

December 31, 2009

(in thousands) (in thousands)
 
Total Revenue $4,600 - $5,200 $20,500 - $21,500
 
Adjusted EBITDA
GAAP Operating income $450 – $950 $4,300 – $5,000
Adjustment to GAAP Operating income:
Stock-based compensation 400 1,550
Depreciation and amortization 400 1,350
 
$1,250 – $1,750 $7,200 – $7,900

Conference Call

Answers Corporation will host a conference call web cast today, August 4, 2009, at 8:30 A.M. (Eastern Time) to be broadcast over the Internet at http://ir.answers.com. To participate via telephone, please dial 877-440-5784 and request the Answers call. A replay will be available on the site shortly after the call.

About Answers Corporation

Answers Corporation (NASDAQ: ANSW) owns and operates Answers.com which includes the properties ReferenceAnswers and WikiAnswers. The award-winning ReferenceAnswers includes content on millions of topics from over 250 licensed sources from leading publishers, including Houghton Mifflin Company, Barron's and Encyclopedia Britannica. ReferenceAnswers is also available for mobile devices at http://mobile.answers.com. WikiAnswers is a community-generated Social Knowledge Q&A platform, leveraging wiki-based technologies. Through the contributions of WikiAnswers' large and growing community, answers are constantly improved and updated over time. WikiAnswers was ranked by comScore as the fastest growing domain of the top 200, in the U.S. in terms of unique monthly visitors in 2008. (answ-f)

For investment information, visit http://ir.answers.com.

Cautionary Statement

Some of the statements included in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, statements regarding future market opportunity and future financial performance. For those statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Important factors may cause our actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, our ability to maintain or improve monetization, particularly in light of the current challenging economic environment; our ability to maintain or improve traffic; a decision by Google, currently the provider of the vast majority of our search engine traffic, or other search engines, to block our pages from users’ search results or otherwise adjust their algorithms in a manner detrimental to us, as experienced in July 2007; a potential termination of our Google Services Agreement, or a decision by Google not to renew such agreement, or, alternatively, to renew it on terms less favorable to us; a decision on our part to decrease the number of ad elements displayed on our Web properties in the interest of user experience; a failure of WikiAnswers to experience continued growth in accordance with our expectations; the effects of facing liability for any content displayed on our Web properties; potential claims that we are infringing the intellectual property rights of any third party; an increasingly competitive environment for our business; and other risk factors identified from time to time in our SEC filings, including, but not limited to, our annual report on Form 10-K filed on March 9, 2009. Any forward-looking statements set forth in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We do not intend to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. This press release and prior releases are available at ir.answers.com. The information in Answers' website is not incorporated by reference into this press release and is included as an inactive textual reference only.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release, and the accompanying tables, include both financial measures in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, as well as non-GAAP financial measures, including “Adjusted EBITDA”. The tables attached to this press release include reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the nearest GAAP financial measures. In addition, an “Explanation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” is set forth in Appendix B attached to this press release.

(Tables and Explanation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures, to follow)

Answers Corporation
 
Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in thousands, except for share and per share data)
 
Three months ended June 30 Six months ended June 30
2009   2008 2009   2008
$ $ $ $
 
Revenues:
Advertising revenue 4,985 2,985 9,714 5,998
Answers service licensing 19 18 36 36
5,004 3,003 9,750 6,034
 
Costs and expenses:
Cost of revenue 1,166 1,416 2,225 2,809
Research and development 817 929 1,690 1,804
Community development, sales and marketing 558 933 1,057 1,695
General and administrative 1,248 1,198 2,467 2,329
Write-off of the Brainboost Answer Engine - 3,138 - 3,138
Termination fees and write-off of costs relating to

the terminated Lexico acquisition and abandoned

follow-on offering

- - - 2,543
Total operating expenses 3,789 7,614 7,439 14,318
 
Operating income (loss) 1,215 (4,611) 2,311 (8,284)
 
Interest income (expense), net (362) 18 (449) 73
Other income (expense), net (9) (11) 6 (49)
Loss resulting from fair value adjustments of

Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants and warrant

to purchase units of Series B preferred stock and warrants

(4,385) - (2,375) -
 
Loss before income taxes (3,541) (4,604) (507) (8,260)
 
Income tax expense, net (78) (15) (72) (26)
 
Net Loss (3,619) (4,619) (579) (8,286)
 
 
 
Basic and diluted net loss per common share
 
Basic (0.51) (0.59) (0.17) (1.06)
Diluted (0.53) N/A (0.18) N/A
 
 
Number of shares used in computing net loss per common share
 
Basic 7,888,530 7,859,890 7,880,645 7,859,890
Diluted 7,920,468 N/A 7,896,614 N/A

Answers Corporation
 
Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
to the nearest comparable GAAP Measures
(in thousands, except for share and per share data)
 
Three months ended
June 30,

2009

  March 31,

2009

  June 30,

2008

 
 
Adjusted Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue $1,166 $1,059 $1,416
Stock-based compensation expense (35) (34) (42)
Depreciation and amortization (186) (137) (260)
 
$945 $888 $1,114
 
Adjusted Research and Development
Research and development $817 $873 $929
Stock-based compensation expense (84) (83) (96)
Depreciation and amortization (32) (33) (34)
 
$701 $757 $799
 
Adjusted Community Development, Sales and Marketing
Community development, sales and marketing $558 $499 $933
Stock-based compensation expense (33) (33) (67)
Depreciation and amortization (15) (18) (22)
 
$510 $448 $844
 
Adjusted General and Administrative
General and administrative $1,248 $1,219 $1,198
Stock-based compensation expense (229) (236) (215)
Depreciation and amortization (66) (73) (67)
 
$953 $910 $916
 
Adjusted Operating Expenses
Operating expenses $3,789 $3,650 $7,614
Stock-based compensation expense (381) (386) (420)
Write-off of the Brainboost Answers Engine - - (3,138)
Depreciation and amortization (299) (261) (383)
 
$3,109 $3,003 $3,673
 
Adjusted EBITDA
Net income (loss) $(3,619) $3,041 $(4,619)
Income tax (benefit) expense 78 (6) 15
(Gain) loss resulting from fair value adjustment of Series A

Warrants, Series B Warrants and warrant to purchase

units of Series B preferred stock and warrants

4,385 (2,010) -
Other (income) expense 9 (15) 11
Interest (income) expense 362 87 (18)
Stock-based compensation expense 381 386 420
Write-off of the Brainboost Answers Engine - - 3,138
Depreciation and amortization 299 261 383
 
$1,895 $1,744 $(670)

See discussion regarding Adjusted EBITDA in Appendix B of this earnings release for an explanation of the reconciling items noted above.

Answers Corporation
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands, except for share and per share data)
 
June 30 December 31
2009 2008
$ $
Assets
 
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents 20,405 11,739
Accounts receivable 1,767 1,680
Prepaid expenses and other current assets 723 818
Deferred tax asset 11 -
Total current assets 22,906 14,237
 
Long-term deposits (restricted) 264 257
 
Deposits in respect of employee severance obligations 1,530 1,337
 
Property and equipment, net of $2,491 and $2,083 accumulated depreciation as of

June 30, 2009 and December 31, 2008, respectively

1,997 1,234
 
Other assets:
Intangible assets, net of $839 and $769 accumulated amortization as of June 30, 2009

and December 31, 2008, respectively

875 994
Goodwill 437 437
Prepaid expenses, long-term, and other assets 198 220
Deferred tax asset, long term 41 -
Total other assets 1,551 1,651
 
Total assets 28,248 18,716
 
Liabilities and stockholders' equity
 
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable 434 537
Accrued expenses 689 751
Accrued compensation 924 628
Warrant to purchase units of Series B preferred stock and warrants - 8,698
Capital lease obligation – current portion 80 78
Deferred revenues 4 16
Total current liabilities 2,131 10,708
 
Long-term liabilities:
Liability in respect of employee severance obligations 1,681 1,534
Capital lease obligation, net of current portion 65 106
Deferred tax liability 32 26
Series A and Series B Warrants 7,749 -
Total long-term liabilities 9,527 1,666
 
Commitments and contingencies
 
Series A and B convertible preferred stock: $0.01 par value; stated value and liquidation

preference of $100 per share; 6% cumulative annual dividend; 130,000 and 60,000 shares

authorized, issued and outstanding as of June 30, 2009 and December 31, 2008, respectively

1,210 624
 
Stockholders' equity:
Preferred stock: $0.01 par value; 870,000 and 940,000 shares authorized as of June 30, 2009

and December 31, 2008, respectively, none issued

- -
Common stock; $0.001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized; 7,924,358 and 7,870,538 shares

issued and outstanding as of June 30, 2009 and December 31, 2008, respectively

8 8
Additional paid-in capital 89,201 77,091
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) 16 (28)
Accumulated deficit (73,845) (71,353)
Total stockholders' equity 15,380 5,718
 
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity 28,248 18,716

Appendix A

2008   2009
Q1   Q2   Q3   Q4 Q1   Q2
 
Ad Revenue ($ - in thousands)
 
ReferenceAnswers 1,828 1,485 1,579 1,730 1,567 1,585
WikiAnswers 1,185 1,500 1,960 2,879 3,162 3,400
Total 3,013 2,985 3,539 4,609 4,729 4,985
 
ReferenceAnswers 61% 50% 45% 38% 33% 32%
WikiAnswers 39% 50% 55% 62% 67% 68%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
 
Traffic – Average Daily Page Views
 
ReferenceAnswers 3,225,000 2,641,000 2,666,000 3,027,000 2,982,000 2,965,000
WikiAnswers 1,885,000 2,318,000 3,094,000 4,350,000 5,337,000 6,082,000
Total 5,110,000 4,959,000 5,760,000 7,377,000 8,319,000 9,047,000
 
ReferenceAnswers 63% 53% 46% 41% 36% 33%
WikiAnswers 37% 47% 54% 59% 64% 67%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
 
RPM
ReferenceAnswers $6.23 $6.18 $6.44 $6.21 $5.84 $5.87
WikiAnswers $6.91 $7.11 $6.89 $7.19 $6.58 $6.14

Appendix B

Explanation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This earnings release and the accompanying financial tables include both financial measures in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, as well as non-GAAP financial measures. The non-GAAP financial measure we refer to, Adjusted EBITDA, represents net earnings before interest, gain (loss) resulting from fair value adjustment of Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants and warrant to purchase units of Series B preferred stock and warrants, taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation, foreign currency exchange rate differences and certain non-recurring revenues and expenses. We also refer to Adjusted Cost of Revenue, Adjusted Research and Development, Adjusted Community Development, Sales and Marketing, Adjusted General and Administrative and Adjusted Operating Expenses, which are our GAAP expenses, adjusted for the expense items we exclude from Adjusted EBITDA.

We use Adjusted EBITDA as an additional measure of our overall performance for purposes of business decision-making, developing budgets and managing expenditures. It is useful because it removes the impact of our capital structure (interest expense and gain (loss) resulting from fair value adjustment of Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants and warrant to purchase units of Series B preferred stock and warrants), asset base (amortization and depreciation), stock-based compensation expenses, taxes, foreign currency exchange rate differences and certain non-recurring revenues and expenses from our results of operations. We believe that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors in their analysis of our results of operations for reasons similar to the reasons why we find it useful and because these measures enhance their overall understanding of the financial performance and prospects of our ongoing business operations. By reporting Adjusted EBITDA, we provide a basis for comparison of our business operations between current, past and future periods, and peer companies in our industry.

More specifically, we believe that removing these impacts is important for several reasons:

  • Amortization of Intangible Assets. Adjusted EBITDA disregards amortization of intangible assets. Specifically, we exclude (a) amortization, and the write-off, of acquired technology from the acquisition of Brainboost Technology, LLC, developer of the Brainboost Answer Engine in December 2005; and (b) amortization of intangible assets resulting from the acquisition of WikiAnswers and other related assets in November 2006. These acquisitions resulted in operating expenses that would not otherwise have been incurred. We believe that excluding such expenses is significant to investors, due to the fact that they derive from prior acquisition decisions and are not necessarily indicative of future cash operating costs. In addition, we believe that the amount of such expenses in any specific period may not directly correlate to the underlying performance of our business operations. While we exclude the aforesaid expenses from Adjusted EBITDA we do not exclude revenues derived as a result of such acquisitions. The amount of revenue that resulted from the acquisition of WikiAnswers and other related assets, for the three months ended June 30, 2009, March 31, 2009, and June 30, 2008 was $3.4 million, $3.16 million and $1.48 million, respectively. The amount of revenue that resulted from the acquisition of technology from Brainboost is not quantifiable due to the nature of its integration.
  • Stock-based Compensation Expense. Adjusted EBITDA disregards expenses associated with stock-based compensation, a non-cash expense arising from the grant of stock-based awards to employees and directors. We believe that, because of the variety of equity awards used by companies, the varying methodologies for determining stock-based compensation expense, and the subjective assumptions involved in those determinations, excluding stock-based compensation from Adjusted EBITDA enhances the ability of management and investors to compare financial results over multiple periods.
  • Depreciation, Interest, Gain (Loss) Resulting from Fair Value Adjustment of Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants and Warrant to Purchase Units of Series B Preferred Stock and Warrants, Taxes and Exchange Rate Differences. We believe that, excluding these items from the Adjusted EBITDA measure provides investors with additional information to measure our performance, by excluding potential differences caused by variations in capital structures (affecting interest expense), asset composition, and tax positions.
  • Terminated Lexico Acquisition and Follow-On Offering. Adjusted EBITDA disregards $2,543 thousand in costs associated with our terminated acquisition of Lexico and the cancellation of our follow-on offering. We believe that, excluding these costs provides investors with additional information to measure our performance, by excluding events that are of a non-recurring nature.

Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of liquidity or financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, a measure of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Investors are cautioned that there are inherent limitations associated with the use of Adjusted EBITDA as an analytical tool. Some of these limitations are:

  • Non-GAAP financial measures are not based on a comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles;
  • Many of the adjustments to Adjusted EBITDA reflect the exclusion of items that are recurring and will be reflected in our financial results for the foreseeable future;
  • Other companies, including other companies in our industry, may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently than us, thus limiting its usefulness as a comparative tool;
  • Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the periodic costs of certain tangible and intangible assets used in generating revenues in our business;
  • Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect interest income from our investments in cash and investment securities;
  • Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect foreign exchange net gains and losses;
  • Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect interest expense and other cost relating to financing our business, including gains and losses resulting from fair value adjustment of Redpoint Ventures’ Series A Warrants, Series B Warrants and their warrant to purchase units of Series B preferred stock and warrants;
  • Adjusted EBITDA excludes taxes, which is an integral cost of doing business; and
  • Because Adjusted EBITDA does not include stock-based compensation, it does not reflect the cost of granting employees equity awards, a key factor in management’s ability to hire and retain employees.

We compensate for these limitations by providing specific information in the reconciliation to the GAAP amounts excluded from Adjusted EBITDA.

Cameron Associates
John McNamara, 212-554-5485
john@cameronassoc.com

(Source: Business Wire )


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