Harris Acquisitions Lead Revenue Rise

Harris Interactive has reported fiscal first-quarter revenue up 17% to $55.2m, mostly due to the inclusion of $6.1m from acquisitions made earlier in the year. Organic growth year-on-year was 4%.

President & CEO Greg Novak comments: 'Our three recent acquisitions, MediaTransfer (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6627.htm ), Harris/Decima and MarketShare (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7195.htm ) hit their numbers. We expect to see strong future performance from those units, which will further prove the viability of a properly conceived and managed globalisation strategy.'

Fiscal first quarter operating income climbed 58% to $1.6 million. Net income for the quarter was $1.1 million, up 23% when compared with the first quarter of fiscal 2007. Bookings were $50.8m, compared with $42.9m for the same period a year ago.

Despite a 4% decline in UK income, European revenue was up 13% and North American revenue grew by 17%. Overall, Internet revenue grew 15%.

CFO Ronald Salluzzo concluded that based on the results from Q1 and current outlook, the firm remains 'comfortable' with its previous 2008 projections of revenue of between $258m and £265m, adjusted EBITDA of between $30m and $31m, and net earnings between $0.17 and $0.18 per diluted share.

The firm is online at www.harrisinteractive.com.