Harris Revenue Declines, Profit Increases

Troubled agency Harris Interactive has announced second quarter results, with net income rising to $1.6m from $0.3m in the prior year period; but revenues falling 13% to $39.1m from $44.9m.

The previous year's figure included $1.4m from the now closed Asia operations.

Last spring, following a 9% drop in quarterly revenue - to the lowest figure since 2004 - former COO Al Angrisani was brought back as Interim CEO to advise Harris on a turnaround strategy.

Yesterday, Angrisani told an investors' conference call that the firm's downward trend in revenue has been largely driven by declines in the UK and the impact of booking declines in US operations, resulting from a move away from projects that don't produce 'appropriate' profit margins.

In local currency terms, the firm saw a 4% decrease in US revenue, which it puts down to a decline in US bookings throughout the first half of fiscal 2012. In the UK, revenue dropped 48% following the firm's restructuring and staff redundancy initiatives.

The firm's French operations fared better, with revenues climbing 26% on the back of sales to new and existing clients across a number of industry sectors.

Overall for the group, bookings for Q2 were down 18% to $45.2m, compared with $55.3m a year previously.

Angrisani commented: 'We made progress this quarter in improving our liquidity and profitability as a result of closely managing cash and our rightsizing efforts, both of which are core elements of our turnaround program. Looking ahead, we continue to address sales challenges in certain areas of our business, in part by replacing low margin work with projects that yield appropriate margins. Addressing these challenges is not a quick or easy process, and in the interim will put downward pressure on revenue.'

Web site: www.harrisinteractive.com .