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PRESS RELEASES
Revenues and Profits for First Quarter FY98
HACKENSACK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 18, 1997-- IDT Corporation
(NASDAQ: IDTC - news), a leader in international telecommunications,
today reported its third consecutive profitable quarter as a public
company. For the first quarter ended October 31, 1997, the Company
reported revenues of $54.8 million, a 94% increase over the same
period year-ago revenues of $28.3 million. Net income for the quarter
was $2.0 million or $0.08 per share as compared with the same quarter
year-ago net loss of $3.1 million or ($0.15) per share. EBITDA for
the first quarter was $4.1 million, or $0.16 per share as compared
to the same quarter year-ago negative EBITDA of $2.3 million or
($0.11) per share.
A quarter to quarter comparison shows a 34% revenue increase to
$54.8 million from $41.0 million in the prior quarter. Net income
for the quarter of $2.0 million or $0.08 per share is a 100% sequential
increase over the prior quarter's net income of $0.94 million or
$0.04 per share. EBITDA in the first quarter increased 46% sequentially
to $4.1 million or $0.16 per share as compared to $2.8 million or
$0.12 per share in the prior quarter.
"We are extremely pleased with the results of this past quarter.
We continue to demonstrate very strong sequential growth in our
carrier and retail businesses, as well as in Net2Phone. We are very
pleased with both top-line growth and bottom-line results, demonstrating
our ability to rapidly expand our business, while improving our
overall profitability", stated Howard Jonas, IDT Chairman and CEO.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
IDT's telecommunications operations continued its rapid pace of
growth. Telecom revenues for the quarter increased to $47.8 million,
up 164% over same period year-ago revenues of $18.1 million and
a 41% sequential increase over revenues of $33.8 million for the
prior quarter. Telecom gross margins in this quarter were 20.8%
as compared to 21.6% for the prior quarter, reflecting the continued
strength in the carrier services business. Telecom minutes of use
grew to approximately 111 million minutes for the quarter, a 29%
increase over the prior quarter's 86 million minutes.
"We continue to execute on our strategic plan to reduce our terminating
costs and improve margins by expanding our relationships and agreements
with foreign PTTs and competitive carriers. We have formed very
strong relationships particularly with the European and South American
carriers who are facing deregulation in their markets starting in
the next six weeks. As we deploy our transatlantic network and interconnect
with the foreign carriers, we expect to realize further cost-savings
and enhanced profitability, as well as continue to aggressively
grow our top line,'' said IDT's President Jim Courter, who leads
IDT's team to forge agreements within the international telecom
community."
During the first quarter, IDT announced that it acquired Rock Enterprises,
a privately-held company specializing in telecom engineering, for
approximately $5 million in IDT stock, which is expected to cut
operating costs. The Company believes that by bringing the technology
in-house, the cost savings will be greater than the cost of the
investment, and expects the net effect of the acquisition will be
accretive to earnings by the end of this fiscal year. Prior to the
acquisition, Rock had been providing IDT with switching capabilities,
routing and platform tables, software research and development,
and assistance in deploying the Company's international network.
The Company also announced this quarter that it has negotiated
an agreement to receive income from a master patent covering pre-paid
calling cards throughout Europe. Under the agreement, the Company
is entitled to receive royalties from all companies selling pre-paid
calling cards in Europe who take a license under the patent or against
which the patent is successfully enforced. It is expected this will
accelerate the growth of IDT's telecom business in Europe.
INTERNET TELEPHONY
Revenues for Net2Phone, the world's first commercial PC-to-phone
technology, were $2.1 million, a 100% increase over the prior quarter's
revenues of $1 million. Total Net2Phone minutes of use grew to 3.8
million minutes this quarter, a 73% increase over the prior quarter's
2.2 million minutes.
The Company also began its market-by-market US rollout of Net2Phone
Direct, a new technology that enables ordinary phone and fax transmission
to travel over the Internet. The Company expects to launch Net2Phone
Direct internationally this quarter.
The division's tremendous growth is due in part to reseller agreements
signed this quarter with large multinational corporations such as
Daewoo and Marubeni. The Company has also joined forces with GT
Interactive Services (NASDAQ: GTIS - news), the premiere software
publishing group, to ship Net2Phone to over 10,000 retail outlets
nationwide, including Comp USA and K-Mart.
"We are extremely positive about the potential of our Internet
telephony products and services and the new relationships we have
formed this past quarter. Specifically, foreign PTTs are looking
at our Net2Phone services as a way to target their more price sensitive
customers as a way to avoid losing significant market share to the
new, competitive carriers," said Net2Phone CEO Clifford Sobel,
who joined the Company this quarter after building multimillion
dollar companies throughout New Jersey.
FINANCIAL DETAILS
Total expenses for the first quarter of fiscal 1998 were $52.4
million as compared to $39.7 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal
1997. Gross margins were 25.4% as compared to 27.8% for the prior
quarter. SG&A for the quarter was $9.8 million as compared to $12.6
million in the same quarter year-ago, and $8.5 million for the prior
quarter. SG&A decreased to 18% of revenues for the quarter, as compared
to 44% of revenues in the same quarter year-ago, and 20.8 % for
the prior quarter. Depreciation for the quarter was $1.7 million
as compared to $0.9 million in the same quarter year-ago, and $1.5
million for the prior quarter. As a percentage of revenues, depreciation
decreased to 3.1% of revenues for the quarter as compared to 3.4%
in the same quarter year-ago, and 3.7% for the prior quarter. Shares
used to calculate earnings per share for the first quarter were
25,479,585.
This past quarter, the Company announced that it has secured $13.5
million in financing from a consortium of lenders, which will be
used to expand the Company's international telecommunications network.
Facilities in the US and the UK are already fully functional, and
plans for additional mirror sites throughout Asia and Europe are
planned for launch by the end of the year.
IDT CORPORATION
IDT Corporation is a diversified telecommunications company with
seven years of innovation within the international telecommunications
arena offering a variety of wholesale and retail services. The Company
routes and resells international long distance services to individuals
and businesses in over 225 countries and to telecommunications carriers
in the US and overseas. The Company currently has over 400,000 retail
customers using an array of services including international long
distance, Internet, and Internet telephony services. The Company
is a leader in Internet telephony, routing telephone calls over
the Internet at substantially reduced rates.
Except for historical information, all of the expectations and
assumptions contained in the foregoing are forward-looking statements
involving risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking
statements, include, but are not limited to, the competitive environment
for Internet telephony, changes of rates of all related telco rates
and services, legislation that may affect the Internet Telephony
industry, IDT's ability to operate the services described on a large
scale commercial level. For additional information regarding these
and other risks associated with the Company's business refer to
the Company's reports filed with the SEC.
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