MOVE: Management Discusses Q3 Results and Extension of Market Leadership
Submitted By Knobias ClipReport
MOVE: Management Discusses Q3 Results and Extension of Market Leadership
By Fain Hughes, fhughes@knobias.com
Move, Inc. (MOVE) reported its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2008 after the bell on Wednesday.
Total revenue for the third quarter was $61.2 million compared to $63.4 million in the third quarter of 2007. Net loss for the third quarter of 2008 was $22.6 million, or $0.15 per share, compared to a loss of $3.3 million, or $0.02 per share, for the third quarter of 2007.
Michael Long, CEO of Move, commented in a conference call, “Our Q3 results demonstrate how we are leveraging the significant advantages and benefits of our market leadership, comprehensive industry knowledge and deep customer relationships in the most difficult real estate market in a generation. The unprecedented and rapid deterioration of the real estate market during 2008 makes comparisons with prior year results less meaningful. Because the market has changed so quickly, we have focused the Company on real-time adjustments to market conditions, while preserving our strategic investments that will protect and extend the Company’s leadeship position when the real estate markets recover.”
He continued, “Our balance sheet is strong, and we have positive cash flow from operations. Maintaining this level of financial performance in these challnging market conditions far exceeds our competitors.”
Mr. Long added, “The expense reduction program we announced last quarter is proceeding according to plan. We expect to achieve our goal of reducing our annual costs by $20 million by year-end. The full benefit of these savings will not be realized until Q1 of 2009. In addition, we are making progress towards the sale of our Welcome Wagon subsidiary. We are currently in discussions with potential buyers.”
Lorna Borenstein, President of Move, explained, “Our ability to maintain stability during these extraordinarily difficult times speaks volumes about the underlying strength of our business. More importantly, it gives me great confidence in our ability to drive significant growth when our market recovers.”
She continued, “As our competitors have been forced to retrench in this economy in order to survive, we have have been focused on the most ambitious product launch in our history. Since the launch of our new site, we have seen an increase of 8% in the number of minutes spent onsite per visit. We have also experienced a 12 % increase in the number of listings that each visitor views per visit. Since Q1, we have increased the percentage of unique users who register by 35%.”
Ms. Borenstein added, “Because we have consistently demonstrated that we are the dominant player in this market and the most trusted advisor for consumers in the home buying cycle, advertisers know that if they want to keep their fingers on the pulse of consumer behavior in this market, they must do it with us. While they all want the consumer that is ready to make an offer next week, they know that staying in touch with the 2/3 of the consumers who want to buy a home in the next year is the key to long term success.”
She concluded, “Our consumer engagement metrics continue to improve and demonstrate how we are extending our leadership position. In September, we experienced a 17% year-over-year increase in total minutes spent on REALTOR.com(R), even as the overall category experienced a 5% decline. Consumers spent more time on REALTOR.com(R) than the next seven competitors combined. We are confident that the greatly improved consumer experience will serve to further extend our market dominance. While we are cognizant of the economic and market headwinds, we believe that with focus on our consumer and customer needs, as well as our operational structure, we are laying the foundation for our future success. We are committed to extending our market leadership position through the end of this year and beyond.”
