Oct. 27, 2009 (PR Newswire) --

BOSTON, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PAREXEL International Corporation (Nasdaq: PRXL) today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended September 30, 2009.

For the three months ended September 30, 2009, PAREXEL's consolidated service revenue declined by 1.2% to $259.8 million, compared with $263.0 million in the prior year period. Service revenue in the prior year quarter ended September 30, 2008 would have been $257.3 million, taking into account $5.7 million in service revenue that was subsequently reversed during the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2009, as the result of an accounting adjustment. The accounting adjustment was described more fully in a press release dated August 10, 2009. On this adjusted basis, service revenue grew approximately 1% in the current quarter on a year-over-year basis. Service revenue growth in the quarter would have been 4.8% year-over-year, excluding the current quarter's negative impact from foreign exchange of $16.2 million and the positive impact of $6.2 million related to acquisitions, as well as the prior year $5.7 million adjustment to service revenue.

The Company reported operating income of $18.5 million, or 7.1% of consolidated service revenue, in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2010, versus operating income of $22.0 million, or 8.4% of consolidated service revenue, in the comparable quarter of the prior year. Operating income in the prior year quarter would have been $17.2 million, or 6.7% of service revenue, when taking into account the $4.7 million net revenue and cost impact related to the previously described accounting adjustment. Net income for the current quarter totaled $12.4 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, compared with net income of $13.6 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2008. Certain tax adjustments had a favorable impact on earnings per share of approximately two cents in the current quarter.

On a segment basis, consolidated service revenue for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2010 was $202.3 million in Clinical Research Services (CRS), $28.8 million in PAREXEL Consulting and Medical Communications Services (PCMS), and $28.7 million in Perceptive Informatics, Inc.

Backlog at the end of September was approximately $2.157 billion. The reported backlog included gross new business wins of $322.1 million, cancellations of $100.7 million, a positive impact from foreign exchange rates of $21.7 million, and a negative impact from other adjustments of $2.4 million. The net book-to-bill ratio (defined as gross new business less cancellations divided by service revenue) was approximately 0.85 in the quarter. On a year-over-year basis, backlog at September 30, 2009 was up 4.7%.

Mr. Josef H. von Rickenbach, PAREXEL's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer stated, "Despite a difficult market environment for both our industry and our Company, we were able to exceed our EPS expectations. Client mergers and portfolio reprioritizations have created some unevenness in the demand for our services as reflected in project proposal flow and time to award. At the same time, there appear to be promising signs of stabilization, and we continue to believe that we are a key solution to many of the challenges that our client industries face."

Mr. von Rickenbach continued, "Most importantly, we are focused on the future and are optimistic about what it holds for PAREXEL. After many years, we have achieved our goal of establishing a comprehensive global presence to better serve our clients. As part of our ongoing efforts to leverage these resources more strategically, we will be realigning our global cost structure to further capitalize upon the value that is inherent in our worldwide infrastructure. We believe that these steps will strengthen the Company and optimally position us for future growth."

The Company expects to take a restructuring charge in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2010 of approximately $30 million (approximately $0.30 per share assuming a tax rate of approximately 41.0%) in conjunction with a realignment of our global resources. The charge is expected to benefit earnings per share by approximately $0.22 per share on an annual basis once fully implemented, and will be primarily comprised of severance and facility restructuring costs. Savings will begin to be realized during the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2010.

The Company issued forward-looking guidance for the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2010 (ending December 31, 2009), and provided updated guidance for Fiscal Year 2010, using recent exchange rates. For the second quarter, the Company anticipates reporting consolidated service revenue in the range of $275 to $280 million, a GAAP loss per share in the range of $0.09 to $0.11, and adjusted earnings per diluted share (excluding the previously mentioned restructuring charge) of $0.19 to $0.21. For Fiscal Year 2010, consolidated service revenue is expected to be in the range of $1.105 to $1.125 billion using recent exchange rates (previously issued revenue guidance was $1.120 to $1.150 billion). GAAP earnings per diluted share for Fiscal Year 2010 are projected to be in the range of $0.57 and $0.67, and adjusted earnings per diluted share (excluding the previously mentioned restructuring charge) are expected to be in the range of $0.87 to $0.97 (previously issued diluted earnings per share guidance was $0.85 to $0.95).