Losses Continue for Palm Coast Data in Q4 and 2012

The gap of declining revenues is closing slowly but still exists.

By T.J. Raphael
Wednesday, August 1, 2012

AMREP Corporation, the parent company of subscription fulfillment company Palm Coast Data, announced fiscal results this week, which highlight a $3.2 million decrease in revenues for the fourth quarter of 2012 for its media services group, going from $21.8 million to $18.6 million. Full year losses for this group were reported at a decrease of about $11.5 million, going from $94.9 million to $83.4 million.

“Magazine publishers, which are the principal customers of these operations, have continued to be negatively impacted by increased competition from new media competition from new media distribution sources and also by the effects of the recent recession and the continued weak U.S. economy,” a release from AMREP says. “The result has been a trend of reduced subscription and newsstand magazine sales, which has caused publishers to close some magazine titles and seek more favorable terms from Palm Coast and Kable and their competitors when contracts are up for bid or renewal.”

For the fourth quarter of 2012, AMREP Corporation reported a net loss of $1.1 million for its 2012 fiscal year which ended April 30—an improvement from 2011 when the company reported a net loss of $7.5 million.

Revenues from subscription fulfillment services operations decreased from $16.8 million for the forth quarter to $13.4 million. Full year revenues for this group decreased from $73.6 million to $62.2 million. Newsstand distribution services operations decreased from $2.5 million to $2.01 million for the fourth quarter and from $11.3 million to $9.1 million for the full year.

The company’s Kable Product Services division and other business segments also saw decreases for the fourth quarter and year. In the fourth quarter, revenues went from $3.1 million to $2.4 million, while full year revenues went from $12 million to $10.3 million.

AMREP attributes these changes to “increases in temporary staffing revenues which were partially offset by declines in revenues from the company’s specialty packaging business. The overall revenue decrease in Media Services operations was partially offset by decreases in media Services operating and general administrative expenses due to reduced payroll, benefits and other variable costs.”

The Media Services operating expenses decreased from $18.5 million or 84.7 percent of related revenues to $16.7 million or 89.9 percent of related revenues in the fourth quarter. In full year 2011, there was a decrease from $77.9 million or 82.1 percent of related revenues to $70 million or 84 percent of related revenues for the same periods of 2012.

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