Quotesmith.com Posts Q2 Loss, Lowers Profit Expectations

Darien, Ill.-based Quotesmith.com Inc., the online insurance broker that provides instant quotes from more than 300 leading insurance companies, announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2003.

“Quotesmith.com delivered a mixed bag quarter. Even though we made continued progress driving down non-advertising costs, we are disappointed with our revenue numbers for the first half of this year,” said Robert Bland, Chairman and CEO. “The second quarter of 2003 marks the second consecutive quarter of us promoting our Insure.com brand name in our direct response consumer advertising. Clearly, launch of the Insure.com brand is going to take longer and cost more than we had previously forecast. Nevertheless, we continue to anticipate achieving profitability this year and are delighted with the operational performance of our Company in the first half of the year.”

“Even though revenues for the first half of the year were down $684,000 compared to the first six months of last year, we were successful in reducing our expenses by $780,000,” remarked Phillip Perillo, Chief Financial Officer. “Coupled with increased investment income resulting from realized gains in our investment portfolio, we were able to narrow the six-month net loss by $200,000, compared to last year’s results. We still expect to achieve profitability during the second half of this year, driven primarily by reduced ad spending combined with expected performance-based life insurance revenues. We are also on target to save approximately $4 million in non-advertising costs this year because we are more efficient than ever before at fulfilling orders.”

Quotesmith.com reported revenues of $2.5 million for the second quarter of 2003, down $684,000 from the figure posted in the same quarter last year. Total expenses in the second quarter were about $482,000 less than in the same quarter of the prior year, despite a $690,000 increase in marketing expenditures. The net loss for the quarter was $308,000, or 6 cents per share, as compared to a net loss $222,000, or $.04 per share in the same period last year.

In the second quarter of 2003, the Company sold a total of 4,110 new policies, down 35 percent from the 6,343 policies sold in the second quarter of 2002. Average revenue per policy sold increased 21 percent to $611. Also, operations expenses per policy sold decreased 36 percent to $204 in the second quarter of 2003, compared to $318 per policy sold in the second quarter of last year.
For the six months ended June 30, 2003, the Company reported revenues of $5.08 million compared to revenues of $5.77 million in the same period last year. Total expenses for the period decreased $780,000 and investment income, consisting of interest and realized gains, increased $105,000, resulted in a net loss of $721,000, or 15 cents per share, compared to a loss of $922,000, or 18 cents per share, in the first six months of 2002.

Cash and investments at June 30, 2003 amounted to $15.6 million, or $3.17 per share, vs. $16.3 million at year-end 2002.

Quotesmith.com is revising downward its financial guidance for 2003 because of lower-than-expected revenues realized in the first half of the year. On April 24, 2003, the Company stated that it expected to achieve a 2003 net profit of $800,000 to $1.25 million, revenues of $10.5 million to $11 million and year-end cash and investments of $17 to $18 million. The company expects to achieve a 2003 net profit of $100,000 to $400,000 on revenues of $10 million to $10.5 million, and year-end cash and investments of $15 to $16 million.

Topics Profit Loss