Acxiom Posts $1.5 Million Quarterly Loss

Acxiom Corporation’s reinvention of itself led to a third straight quarter of net losses.

Revenue slid from $267.77 million one year ago to $260.04 in the most recent quarter, while the Little Rock-based data and digital marketer posted a $1.54 million loss – a departure from a $9.84 million profit in the previous year.

Acxiom has been altering its company model, in part, to adapt to new marketing strategies for clients who have shifted away from traditional direct mail consumer contact to utilizing digital products and outreach. The company’s AOS (Audience Operating System), a multi-channel marketing and advertising product, was a bright spot in the second quarter.

“While we remain hard at work rebuilding our U.S. Marketing and Data Services pipeline, we are excited that AOS adoption continues to accelerate,” said Acxiom CEO Scott Howe. “The second quarter was our best quarter to date. We signed 15 new AOS agreements during the quarter and gross media spend through the platform was up over 30 percent sequentially. With the addition of LiveRamp, our partner network expanded substantially. Advertisers can now connect their data to over 120 marketing applications.”

Financial highlight for the quarter included:

• Total revenue was down 3% compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2014 as a result of expected IT Infrastructure Management declines.
• Marketing and Data Services revenue was $204 million, up 2% compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2014.
• IT Infrastructure Management revenue was down approximately 17% compared to the same period a year ago.
• AOS revenue, which includes LiveRamp, was approximately $15 million in the quarter.
• Gross media spend through the Audience Operating System was approximately $37 million, up 32% compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2015.

Acxiom shares closed trading on Monday (Nov. 3) at $18.69. The company’s stock has traded as low as $16.04 per share and as high as $39.30 per share during the past year.