Arbitron Cost Increases Outpace Revenue

Ratings giant Arbitron has announced a 24.1% drop in net income to $12.3m for the quarter, compared with $16.3m for the first quarter of 2008, despite a revenue rise of almost 5%.

Costs and expenses for the period increased by 19.1%, from $63.3m in 2008 to $75.4m in 2009 due to planned expenditures for the Portable People Meter (PPM) ratings panels, the planned introduction of cell-phone-onlyhousehold sampling in diary markets and expenses of $8.2m related principally to severance and benefits for the reorganization and restructuring program announced in March 2009.

During the period, revenue rose 4.7% to $98.5m, compared with $94.1m for Q1 last year.

Earnings before interest and income tax expense (EBIT) for the quarter decreased 25.1% to $20.1m, from $26.8m for the first quarter of 2008.

Earnings per share declined 19.3% to $0.46 from $0.57 per share in the prior year quarter. Excluding the $8.2m charge, earnings for the quarter were $0.65 per share.

President and CEO Michael Skarzynski comments: 'Arbitron is working hard to increase the value and utility of our PPM and diary market services. Continuously improving service quality for the PPM and diary markets also remains a top priority.'

Arbitron says it continues to expect revenue to increase between 6% and 10% compared with the 2008 revenue of $368.8m. Shares in the firm are currently up $0.77 or 3.99%, trading at $20.08.

Yesterday, Arbitron appointed Taher Behbehani to the newly-created position of EVP, Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer. This completed the hires announced earlier in the year which include EVP Chief Marketing Officer and EVP Customer Solutions.

Web site: www.arbitron.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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