Revenue Drops Again as Harris Chases Higher Margins

Harris Interactive has reported a 12% drop in revenue to $33m for the first quarter of fiscal 2013, from $37.8m in the prior year period; but has turned loss into profit as it continues its 'turnaround' and 'rightsizing' activities.

In August, Harris reported an 8.2% fall in revenue to $147.5m for the full year fiscal 2012 - a majority of which it said was part of its 'right-sizing' plan. At the time, CEO Al Angrisani (pictured) said that while the first year of the turnaround had been challenging, he remained hopeful that there would be as much progress in year two as there had been in year one.

In this, the first quarter of fiscal 2013, Angrisani confirmed that profitability had increased largely because of improvements in the UK business and the 'rightsizing' of its cost structure. During the period, Harris reported operating income of $1.8m, compared with a $4.3m loss last year resulting from $5.4m in restructuring charges, while net income was $1.7m compared with a $6m loss in Q1 last year.

Angrisani said that the firm has continued to focus on accepting higher margin work and paying down its existing bank debt, adding: 'Despite the profitability improvement, we are still working to address sales and marketing challenges in several of our business units.'

Harris has rescheduled its results conference call to November 13 because of 'logistical complications' arising from Hurricane Sandy.

Web site: www.harrisinteractive.com .