The past year has been full of turmoil for Irvine-based Autobytel Inc.
The online auto marketing company hired a new slate of executives and pushed through a major accounting restatement that hit earnings.
Despite the challenges, Autobytel’s annual sales have grown from $80.2 million at June 30, 2002, to $131.2 million for the 12 months ended June 30, 2005.
The 64% growth in three-year sales put Autobytel at No. 37 on the Business Journal’s list of fastest-growing public companies. Autobytel is tied with Pro-Dex Inc. of Santa Ana.
Autobytel connects customers with local auto dealers, who pay Autobytel about $23 for leads,the bulk of the company’s revenue. The company also makes money on advertising and software sales.
The biggest change for Autobytel in the past year came in its executive offices.
In April, Richard Post, who was an Autobytel board member, replaced Jeffrey Schwartz as chief executive. A month later, the company named Richard Walker as chief operating officer and Michael Schmidt as chief financial officer.
The permanent chief financial officer position had been open since Hoshi Printer resigned in November after accounting-related issues were discovered.
Schmidt joined Autobytel in spring 2004 as senior vice president in charge of finance. He initially was responsible for the company’s financial planning and analysis.
Last November, Schmidt took on the duties of chief financial officer without the title when Printer stepped down.
Autobytel’s long accounting review led to restatements of its 2002, 2003 and 2004 annual reports. The company also restated quarterly reports for several periods.
The company cited a “material weakness” in its internal controls for the review. Meanwhile, Autobytel blamed stricter rules required by the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting reform act for not filing its reports on time.
The effort to get the restatements completed was a “very tedious” process that was time-consuming for Autobytel’s management, Post said in a past interview.
The overall impact of the restated financial statements was an income reduction of $3.1 million, Autobytel said in a regulatory filing.
Autobytel said in August that it expects 2005 revenue to be $126 million to $130 million, lower than Wall Street’s expectations of $138 million. A couple of investment banks downgraded Autobytel shares on the news and its shares slumped 23%.
In the second quarter, Autobytel said sales were flat at $31.4 million. Costs associated with its accounting review helped push the company into the red. Autobytel reported a loss of $3.3 million in the period compared to a profit of $986,000 a year earlier.
The company hopes deals like a recent one with ESPN.com spurs sales growth. Autobytel was tapped by the sports media unit of Walt Disney Co. in August to operate an auto-related Web site for ESPN.
THE NUMBERS
Employees: 402
Market value: $193 million
3-year sales growth: 64%
Annual sales through June 30: $131.2 million
Annual loss: $1.9 million
Company: online auto marketer
