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NEW YORK, NY - May 8, 2002 - Bankrate,
Inc. (OTC BB: RATE), the Internet's leading source of consumer financial
news and information, today reported net income of $2,712,000, or $0.19
per share, for the quarter ended March 31, 2002, compared to a net loss
of $625,000, or $0.04 per share, in the comparable quarter of 2001. Excluding
the non-cash gain on early extinguishment of debt of $2,022,000, or $0.14
per share, in the 2002 quarter, the Company would have reported net income
of $690,000, or $0.05 per share, for the quarter.
"This has been a terrific quarter for us", commented
President and CEO Elisabeth DeMarse. "Our company, despite the terrible
ad environment, has pulled together and worked harder than ever to achieve
these results. We are reporting strong revenue growth across the board,
and our efforts have yielded our largest operating profit to date. We
have always seen a seasonal up-tick in our first quarter and, as planned,
we have earned about half of our budgeted profit for 2002. We expect that
Bankrate will remain profitable for the remainder of the year, although
not at this pace, given our seasonality."
"This is the fourth consecutive quarter that Bankrate has generated
cash from operations," continued DeMarse. " 'Achieving profitability'
were our watchwords for 2001. With focus and determination we met that
goal. Now that we have a stable base from which to operate, we are focused
on growth and are pushing ahead in a number of promising areas. This year
is off to a terrific start, with record-breaking revenue and profits.
And, as we reported earlier this quarter, we negotiated the early payoff
of our subordinated note, making Bankrate virtually debt-free."
Revenue Continues to Improve Year Over Year and in Sequential
Quarters
Total revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2002 of $5,637,000
was $891,000, or 19%, higher than the $4,746,000 reported for the same
quarter of 2001, and was $516,000, or 10%, higher than the $5,121,000
reported in the fourth quarter of 2001. Online revenue for the quarter
ended March 31, 2002 of $4,713,000 was $752,000, or 19%, higher than the
$3,961,000 reported for the same quarter of 2001, and was $452,000, or
11%, higher than the $4,261,000 reported in the fourth quarter of 2001.
Print publishing and licensing of $924,000 for the first quarter of 2002
was $139,000, or 18%, higher than the $785,000 reported for the same quarter
of 2001, and was 7% higher than the $861,000 reported in the fourth quarter
of 2001. Online revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2002 and
2001 included barter revenue of $855,000 and $873,000, representing approximately
15% and 18% of total revenue, respectively. Revenue from hyperlinks (rate
table listings) for the quarter ended March 31, 2002 increased 85% over
the same quarter of 2001 and 19% over the fourth quarter of 2001. Hyperlink
revenue accounted for 45% of total online revenue excluding barter revenue
for the three months ended March 31, 2002, up from 38% for the year ended
December 31, 2001.
Gross Margin Improves Over 2001
Excluding barter revenue of $855,000 and $873,000, respectively,
Bankrate's gross margin improved from 62% for the three months ended March
31, 2001 to 68% for the same quarter in 2002.
Operating Expenses Down 14%
Excluding barter expense, operating expenses for the quarter ended
March 31, 2002 of $2,504,000 were $398,000, or 14%, lower than the $2,902,000
reported for the three months ended March 31, 2001. Barter expense was
$878,000 and $986,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2002 and 2001,
respectively.
Bob DeFranco, Chief Financial Officer explained, "In
2001 we were resolute in our focus and determination to remove more than
$10 million from our expense base. That financial discipline has continued
to serve us well, delivering strong results in this quarter."
Traffic Levels Reach Record Highs
"According to Jupiter Media Metrix, Bankrate set another record
in the 2002 first quarter, with measured traffic in March 2002 of over
4.2 million unique users, an increase of 83% since December 2001,"
explains DeMarse. "Our user metrics have grown substantially across
the board, with strong increases in unique visitors, pages viewed, and,
most importantly, ads served. Approximately 60% of our page views came
to Bankrate directly, while the remainder was contributed by our vast
partnership network, which includes AOL, Yahoo!, MSN, Netscape and more
than 70 other best-of-breed sites. As the ad spend appears to continue
consolidating around category leaders, the Bankrate brand is also consolidating
the audience for consumer banking products, as demonstrated by our very
impressive quarterly gains in unique visitors."
Business Highlights
· The Company's content is distributed in major media outlets
including AOL, Yahoo!, MSN, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New
York Times, Newsday, and an additional 100 newspapers and 75 Web sites.
· Rate data is being gathered in over 170 markets, from more than
4,800 financial institutions, covering over 100 products.
First Quarter Recap
"This first quarter's record profitability has been
a tremendous success for Bankrate," explained DeMarse. "We have
been on a very strict financial diet for the past year and this quarter
has been the reward. While we are all ecstatic about these results, we
still have a rigorous plan to pursue, and a difficult road ahead. The
Internet ad market remains depressed, and our growth is constricted by
this. In 2002, we plan to continue to diversify revenue across products,
including auto, mortgage, home equity and CD's. We have identified key
areas for growth for this year: increasing value to our partner base,
escalating our distribution avenues, further improving our e-mail programs,
fleshing out our product base and further expanding our 'obsessive customer
service' efforts. As always, our sales efforts are of singular importance,
and the goals we have set for this year will be difficult to reach. Nonetheless,
I am proud of our accomplishments, and we are eagerly pursuing our future."
About Bankrate Inc.
Bankrate Inc. (OTCBB:RATE) owns and operates Bankrate.com, the Internet's
leading consumer banking marketplace. Averaging 4 million unique visitors
per month, Jupiter Media Metrix ranked Bankrate.com first in unique visitors
in the Financial Information and Advice category in February, 2002. Bankrate.com
reviews over 4,800 financial institutions in 173 markets in 50 states.
Bankrate.com is a destination site of personal finance channels, including
banking, investing, taxes and small business finance. It is the leading
aggregator of over 100 financial products, including mortgages, credit
cards, new and used auto loans, money market accounts and CD's, checking
and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees.
Bankrate.com provides financial applications
and information to a network of over 100 partners including MSN (Nasdaq:MSFT),
Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO), America Online (NYSE:AOL), CNN and Smart Money.
Bankrate.com's information is also distributed through more than 100 national
and state publications. CONTACT: Bankrate Inc., North Palm Beach, Fla.
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