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| Gartner Reports Fiscal Year 2000 EPS of $0.29 on 17% Growth in Revenue | ||
| Fourth Quarter EPS of $0.04 on 18% Growth in Revenue; Consulting Business Up 47% in Quarter | ||
| Stamford, Conn. (October 30, 2000) — Gartner Group, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB), the world's leading business technology advisor, today reported strong financial results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year ending September 30, 2000. | ||
| Total revenue in fiscal 2000 rose 17% to $858.7 million versus $734.2 million in fiscal 1999. On a GAAP basis, net income was $25.5 million, or $0.29 per fully diluted share. Diluted EPS includes 28 cents associated with the amortization of intangibles (net of tax benefits), resulting in cash earnings of $50.8 million, or $0.57 per share. Also included in diluted EPS is 3 cents from other charges, net gain on sale of investments, equity losses from minority-owned investments and loss on extinguishment of debt, resulting in normalized EPS of $0.26. | ||
| In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2000, Gartner's total revenue increased 18% to $219.9 million from $186.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1999. On a GAAP basis, fourth quarter net income was $3.9 million, or $0.04 per fully diluted share. Diluted EPS includes 11 cents associated with the amortization of intangibles (net of tax benefits), resulting in cash earnings of $13.6 million, or $0.15 per share. Also included in the diluted EPS is 4 cents from net gain on sale of investments, equity losses from minority-owned investments and loss on extinguishment of debt, resulting in normalized EPS at breakeven. In addition, during the quarter, the Company realized a reduction in its annual effective tax rate as a result of foreign tax planning initiatives and recognized a benefit of 2 cents, which is included in normalized EPS. | ||
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Michael D. Fleisher, Gartner's Chief Executive Officer, said, "This was a great year. We took our dominance in Research and leveraged it to aggressively grow Consulting and Events. That, combined with TechRepublic's growth to one million registered users, affirms the power of our strategy." |
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Business Review Research revenue increased 5% to $128.6 million in the fourth quarter and rose 6% to $509.8 million for the full year, driven by expanded relationships with Gartner's existing large accounts as well as successful penetration into new buying centers. Ratable contract value, a key measure of potential future research revenue, was $599.2 million, up 7% from a year ago. |
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| Consulting services revenue grew 47% to $68.1 million in the fourth quarter and increased 39% to $208.8 million for the full year, demonstrating Gartner's ability to turn existing research relationships into new consulting business. Backlog, a strong indicator of future consulting revenue, was $94.4 million, up 32% from a year ago. | ||
| Regina M. Paolillo, Chief Financial Officer, said, "During the past year, we continued to make major investments in Gartner's intellectual capital by adding 300 analysts and consultants. Today, our senior analyst and consultant resources exceed 1,400, providing Gartner with unparalleled depth and breadth across technologies, industries and geographies. This investment has significantly enhanced and expanded our relationships with more than 10,000 clients who, on average, increased their spending with us by 13% to $81,000 in fiscal 2000." | ||
| Events revenue rose 42% to $13.4 million in the fourth quarter and grew 44% to $108.6 million for the full year on growth in number of events held, attendees, and exhibitors. Gartner Events attracted over 2,900 attendees in the fourth quarter and 36,000 in fiscal 2000, up 83% and 34%, respectively. The number of exhibitors and sponsors was up 104% in the fourth quarter and up 37% in 2000. Deferred revenue, a strong indicator of future events revenue, was $72.2 million, up 40% from a year ago. "Gartner Events is the world's largest technology conference provider and a highly profitable, high growth global business that attracts thousands of prospects for our products and services," said Paolillo. "To exploit this market opportunity, we will continue to grow our existing marquis events and add new events on today's hottest topics to our calendar." | ||
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TechRepublic, Gartner's Internet business and the world's largest B2B information technology com-munity, continued to deliver above expectations, with revenue up 37% sequentially. Registered users (defined as proactive users who have completed a personal profile) grew 38% sequentially to 942,000 and, just last week, TechRepublic signed up its one millionth member. Monthly impressions, which are critical to driving advertising volumes and rates, numbered 23.2 million, up 30% sequentially from 17.9 million. "TechRepublic is the leading online destination for IT professionals and the richest source of content in the exploding online enterprise technology marketplace," said Paolillo. "Active users typically spend more than 10 minutes per session and an extraordinary 42 minutes per month on the site. We will now leverage the TechRepublic community into a meaningful revenue stream as we have with Events." |
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Key Acquisitions & Strategic Developments (4Q00)
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"We're entering the new fiscal year with tremendous momentum," said Fleisher. "Our clients are gearing up for the networked economy. Gartner's combination of Research and Consulting delivered globally - independent and objective - is the only advisory business in the industry ready to meet the demands of the emerging networked economy." |
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Business Outlook The following statements are based on current expectations and should be considered forward-looking; actual results may differ materially. These statements do not include the potential impact of any business risks, opportunities or developments that may occur after September 30, 2000. Readers are strongly encouraged to read the full cautionary statements included in this release and in the Company's SEC filings. |
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Conference Call Information The Company has scheduled a conference call with investors at 9:00 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, October 31, 2000, to discuss the Company's financial results. The conference call will also be available via the Internet by accessing the "Investor Information" section of Gartner's web site at www.gartner.com, or at www.vcall.com. A replay of the webcast will be available for a limited time |
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| About Gartner Gartner provides unrivaled thought leadership for more than 10,000 organizations, helping clients to achieve their business objectives through the intelligent and efficient use of technology. Additionally, Gartner helps technology companies identify and maximize technology market opportunities. Gartner's technology content and strong brand reach IT professionals globally through Gartner Research, its research and advisory unit; Gartner Services, its custom consulting unit; Gartner Events, including Gartner's renowned Symposia; and www.gartner.com. Gartner subsidiary TechRepublic, Inc. ( www.techrepublic.com) is the leading online destination developed exclusively for IT professionals by IT professionals. Gartner, founded in 1979 and headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, achieved fiscal 2000 revenues of $859 million. Gartner's 4,300 associates, including 1,400 research analysts and consultants, are in more than 80 locations worldwide. For more information about Gartner's industry-leading products and services, please visit us on the Web at www.gartner.com |
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| Certain statements contained herein, including statements regarding the Company's business outlook, the development of the Company's services, markets and future demand for the Company's services and other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties; consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied thereby. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, ability to attract and retain professional staff of research analysts and consultants upon whom the Company is dependent, ability to effectively manage growth, the ability to achieve continued customer renewals and achieve new contract growth in light of potentially adverse economic conditions and competitive pressures, ability to integrate operations of possible acquisitions, ability to carry out the Company's strategic initiatives and manage associated costs, ability to manage the Company's strategic partnerships, rapid technological advances, substantial competition from existing competitors and potential new competitors, risks associated with intellectual property rights important to the Company's products and services, additional risks associated with international operations including foreign currency fluctuations and other risks listed from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements included herein speak only as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update such statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or circumstances. | ||
| Financial Table to Follow (pdf) | ||
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