KIRKLAND, WA — (Marketwire) — 11/08/11 — Market Leader, Inc. (NASDAQ: LEDR) today announced significantly improved results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2011.
Revenue of $9.0 million was up 50% from $6.0 million in last year-s third quarter. Net loss of $3.0 million compared to $3.4 million in the third quarter of 2010 while the Adjusted EBITDA loss of $1.5 million was reduced by $1.0 million from $2.5 million.
“We achieved 50% revenue growth despite a very challenging real estate market based on the strengths of our enhanced products for brokerage companies and their agents, our talented team, and our outstanding partners,” said Market Leader CEO, Ian Morris.
Sequentially, revenue was up 8% over the second quarter driven by initial contributions from SharperAgent, as well as strong performance from the company-s rapidly growing franchise channel.
More than 3,000 agents and brokerage companies upgraded to Market Leader-s premium offerings during the third quarter. This dramatic increase represents Market Leader-s single largest quarterly customer addition in five years.
Much of this success was driven by recent enhancements to the products being delivered through the company-s new franchise channel. Similar enhancements will be integrated into all of Market Leader-s premium offerings in the coming months, a development that the company believes will lead to further increases in sales and customer lifetime value. These upgrades to the company-s platform are enabled by Market Leader-s acquisition of SharperAgent that was completed during the third quarter.
In August, Market Leader acquired SharperAgent, a leading provider of online and print marketing suites to the real estate industry, for $1.74 million plus assumed liabilities, or about half the annual revenue for a company that was EBITDA positive on a standalone basis.
SharperAgent has relationships with some of the industry-s most prominent brokerage companies and more than 30,000 real estate agent users across North America. Market Leader will be adding SharperAgent-s robust marketing campaign management tools, as well as its design, and printing functionality into its software platform and premium product offerings in the upcoming months. The integration of this functionality with Market Leader-s existing products will create a single and seamlessly integrated SaaS platform for real estate franchises, brokerage companies, and their agents that the company believes is unequaled in the marketplace.
In September, Market Leader acquired , one of the most recognized addresses in real estate. RealEstate.com is a proven and consistent source of organic traffic with significant potential for further growth as a compelling consumer real estate destination. The company expects initial financial benefits in the form of reduced lead generation expenses to begin in the first quarter of 2012 with an expected payback of its $8.25 million investment to be achieved in three years or less, before consideration of the revenue growth the company expects to create from this asset. Market Leader believes that these new opportunities are significant and expects to leverage RealEstate.com for both cost savings and revenue growth in the quarters and years ahead.
“We believe that the acquisitions of SharperAgent and RealEstate.com are transformative and will provide meaningful long term benefits to our real estate professional customers and to the company-s growth. Integration of these highly strategic assets is already underway, and what we have seen thus far only increases our confidence that we will be able to deliver significantly improved results in 2012 and beyond,” Morris added.
Market Leader today said that based upon the strong momentum in the business, the company now expects to achieve positive EBITDA by the end of the first half of 2012.
The company will host a conference call and live Webcast to discuss third quarter results on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time. To listen to the live conference call, please dial (719) 325-4766. A live Webcast of the call will be available from the Investor Relations section of the company-s Web site at . An audio replay of the call will also be available to investors beginning on November 8 at 7:30 PM Eastern time and ending on November 13 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time by dialing (719) 457-0820 and entering the passcode 4352321#.
Market Leader, founded in 1999, provides innovative online technology and marketing solutions for real estate professionals across the United States and Canada. The company serves more than 60,000 real estate agents, brokerages and franchisors, offering complete end-to-end solutions that enable them to grow and manage their businesses. Market Leader-s subscription-based — including websites, contact management, a marketing suite, and lead generation services — helps customers generate a steady stream of prospects, plus provides the systems and training they need to convert those prospects into clients. In addition, the company-s national consumer real estate sites, including , give its customers access to millions of future home buyers and sellers, while providing consumers with free access to the information they seek.
For more information on Market Leader visit .
This release contains forward-looking statements relating to the company-s anticipated plans, products, services, and financial performance. The words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean the statement is not forward-looking. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect the company-s actual results include its ability to retain and increase its customer base, to continue to grow revenues, to continue to maintain current customer retention levels, to respond to competitive threats and real estate market conditions, to reduce lead generation expenses, to achieve payback on its investment in RealEstate.com in three years or less, to develop new products, to develop new revenue sources from its RealEstate.com assets, to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA by the end of the first half of 2012, and to expand into new lines of business. Please refer to the company-s most recent Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed description of these and other risks that could materially affect actual results. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are made as of today-s date and the company assumes no obligation to update any such statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.
Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure provided as a complement to results in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). Adjusted EBITDA is not a substitute for measures determined in accordance with GAAP, and may not be comparable to Adjusted EBITDA as reported by other companies. Our use of the term “Adjusted EBITDA” refers to a financial measure defined as earnings or loss before net interest, income taxes, depreciation, amortization, equity in loss of an unconsolidated subsidiary, net loss attributable to non-controlling interest, loss on asset disposition, and stock-based compensation. We believe Adjusted EBITDA to be relevant and useful information to our investors as this measure is an integral part of our internal management reporting and planning process and is the primary measure used by our management to evaluate operating performance. See below for a reconciliation of net loss, the most comparable GAAP measure, to Adjusted EBITDA.
Mark Lamb
Director of Investor Relations
Market Leader, Inc.
425.952.5801
George Medici
PondelWilkinson, Inc.
310.279.5980
You must be logged in to post a comment Login