Friday, M & F Worldwide Corp. (MFW) reported a decrease in profit for the fourth quarter, hurt by lower revenues across segments and a non-cash write-down attributable to the Harland Clarke tradename.
The New York-based company's net income for the fourth quarter was $2.8 million or $0.14 per share, down from $15.8 million or $0.82 per share in the year-ago period. The decrease in profit was attributed by a $44.2 million non-cash write-down of the value of the Harland Clarke tradename, partially offset by a $16.8 million reduction in interest expense due to lower interest rates on variable rate debt and lower debt balances, and a $6.4 million decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses.
Total net revenue for the quarter declined 4.2% to $447.2 million from $467 million in the same quarter last year.
On segmental basis, revenue at Harland Clarke fell 2.3%, to $299.6 million from $306.6 million, mainly due to volume declines from check and related products.
Harland Financial Solutions segment revenues decreased 4.9% to $72.1 million from $75.8 million in the year-ago period, affected by volume declines in license, hardware and professional services revenues as well as in mortgage products.
Net revenues for the Scantron segment was $50 million in the current quarter, down 11.3% from $56.4 million, as volume declined in hardware and forms products lines and service and maintenance revenues decreased.
Licorice Products segment, that is operated by Mafco Worldwide, recorded a revenue of $25.6 million, a decrease of 9.5% from $28.3 million in the same quarter last year, due to a decline in shipment volumes to the worldwide tobacco industry primarily due to continued worldwide consumption declines in tobacco products using licorice, a shift in the strategy of worldwide cigarette manufacturers which placed a greater emphasis on product changes and costs reductions and the continued rationalization of inventories by Altria and PMI subsequent to Altria's spin-off of PMI in the prior year.
Gross profit decreased to $188.7 million from $191.5 million, while operating income plunged to $36.3 million from $70.9 million in the year-ago period.
For the year, the company posted net income of $119.7 million or $6.17 per share, compared to $67.7 million or $3.34 per share in the prior year. Total revenues generated declined to $1.8 billion from $1.9 billion last year.
MFW is currently trading at $32.08, down $1.61 or 4.78% on a volume of 88,505 shares on the NYSE.
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