St. Louis, Missouri, November 16, 1995 -- Data Research Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRAI) announced today that earnings for its fiscal year, ended September 30, 1995, were a record $3.6 million, up 24% percent over $2.9 million earned in fiscal 1994. These results marked the company's ninth consecutive year of record earnings.
Earnings per share for fiscal 1995 were a record 99 cents, compared to 80 cents for fiscal year 1994. Earnings for the fourth quarter were $1.5 million, or 42 cents per share, an essentially flat comparison to the same period in fiscal 1994, during which the company signed and shipped an unusually high number of large contracts.
Revenues for fiscal 1995 were $34.9 million, an increase of 38% compared to $25.3 million for fiscal 1994. For the fourth quarter, revenues were $8.6 million, an increase of 6% compared to $8.2 million in the same period last year.
Michael J. Mellinger, president and CEO, attributed the record revenues and earnings for the year to strong sales of the company's automation systems, especially to large public libraries and library consortia; to continuing growth in demand for the company's Internet and other networking services; and to ongoing increases in the recurring revenues that the company receives from maintenance fees.
"Our long-time focus on networking and the Internet as a means of information sharing is reflected both in strong demand for our core product lines, as well as in ongoing growth in the revenues we derive from our Internet service provision," said Mellinger. "In addition, our core competency in networking is allowing us to pursue the expansion of our Internet service provision to corporations and institutions outside of our core library marketplace."
Mellinger also noted that the fiscal 1995 results did not include any revenues derived from the company's $3.6 million contract with the ILCSO consortium in the state of Illinois, which was signed early in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1995.
Data Research Associates, headquartered in St. Louis, is a leading systems integrator for libraries and other information providers, offering its own proprietary information services software; third-party software and hardware; Internet, World Wide Web and other networking services; and other related support services.
Summary of Quarterly Results (in thousands, except per-share data)
| Three Months Ended September 30 | Fiscal Year Ended September 30 | |||
| (unaudited) | (audited) | |||
| 1995 | 1994 | 1995 | 1994 | |
| Revenues: | ||||
| Hardware | $2,425 | $2,680 | $10,905 | $8,005 |
| Software | 2,412 | 2,696 | 8,513 | 7,255 |
| Services and other | 3,812 | 2,812 | 15,449 | 10,056 |
| Total revenues | $8,649 | $8,188 | $34,867 | $25,316 |
| Net income | $1,535 | $1,533 | $3,634 | $2,941 |
| Earnings per share | $.42 | $.42 | $.99 | $.80 |
| Weighted average number of common shares |
3,662 | 3,658 | 3,662 | 3,658 |
