While TRX reported a small year-over-year rise in profitability for the third quarter of 2009, the company still is deep in the red for the first nine months of the year as transaction and data reporting revenues continue to fall, according to the company's quarterly earnings report, released today.
During the quarter, which ended on Sept. 30, the company had a net income of $440,000, a vast improvement over the $1.99 million it lost during the same period last year. It also is an increase over the $220,000 in net income it earned last quarter.
Total revenues excluding client reimbursements decreased 22.1 percent year over year to $15.2 million, with the largest drop coming from the transaction processing revenue segment, which fell 24.7 percent. Data reporting revenues dropped 10.1 percent.
Though revenues have fallen, so have expenses. Technology development during the quarter was $927,000, down from more than $3 million in the third quarter of 2008. Client reimbursements plummeted by 70.3 percent year-over-year to $103,000.
Meanwhile, for the first nine months of the year, TRX has a net loss of $43.2 million, compared with a net income of $7.65 million for the first nine months of 2008.
TRX last year started to focus on diversifying its client base to reduce from what was then about 80 percent of its business coming from five clients. While the company has been successful in gaining smaller accounts through direct corporate relationships
(BTNonline, May 21), its largest clients still made up 67 percent of its revenue in the third quarter. Of the total revenue mix, Expedia and American Express accounted for 42 percent and 16 percent, respectively. Citibank's technology license agreement with TRX accounted for one-quarter of the company's revenues for the first nine months of the year.
During the quarter, TRX also generated $928,000 from sister company BCD Travel, down from $1.8 million in transaction and other revenues from the same period in 2008. On Aug. 31, an agreement for the TMC to use TRX's mid-office Correx services ended. BCD and TRX still have a separate agreement for ResX online booking tool services.