Online flower business seems Rosy: FTD.com and 1-800-Flowers.com report strong earnings - Applications

Information Superhighways Newsletter, Jan, 2002

Online florist FTD.com posted net second fiscal quarter (ending December 31) earnings of $3.3 million, or 7cents per share, fully diluted. The flower company said its second quarter revenues grew 24 percent to $40.4 million, compared with $32.5 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Its net income was $3.3 million, or 7cents per share, compared to net income of $1.8 million, or 4cents per share (excluding a previously reported one-time gain of $500,000) in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year. Second fiscal quarter orders totaled approximately 624,000 for FTD.com, with an average order value of $58.93, compared to approximately 514,000 orders in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year, with an average order value of $57 per order.

The company said it was able to reduce its marketing cost per order by 8 percent to $7.67 per order for the second quarter of fiscal 2002, from $8.30 per order a year ago.

1-800-FLOWERS.com, the second major player in the online flower delivery business, reported record revenues of $162 million for its fiscal 2002 second quarter and posted a profit of 3cents a share fully diluted.

1-800-FLOWERS.com said that, for the quarter, its online revenues increased 27 percent to $60.5 million and telephone-order revenues increased 18 percent to $93.6 million. Total revenues of $162.3 million increased about 21 percent, compared with revenues of $134.2 million in the period a year ago.

Net income increased to $1.8 million, or 3 cents per share, compared with a loss of $10.5 million -- 16 cents per share -- during the same period last year. Non-floral gifts represented 62 percent of total sales, up from 56 percent in the prior year period. Holiday gifts helped push revenue in the second quarter and helped attract approximately 1.1 million new customers, the company said.

Looking forward, the company said that it anticipates achieving total revenue growth during the current fiscal third quarter, which ends March 31, of 11 to 13 percent, to a range of approximately $114 million to $116 million and a net loss of 2 to 3 cents a share, even though Valentine's Day falls in the third period.