ENVOY'S EBITDA MORE THAN DOUBLES
Organic growth and integration of Best-of-Breed services on an international
platform result in exceptional quarter
TORONTO, Ontario. February 8, 2001 -- Envoy Communications Group Inc. (NASDAQ:
ECGI, TSE: ECG) today announced exceptional first quarter consolidated
operating results, highlighted by net revenue growth of 71%, an increase in
EBITDA of 114% and net earnings growth of 68% compared to the first quarter of
fiscal 2000. Even more encouraging was our performance against EBITDA / share
which was up 82% versus the same quarter last year. The reason we are
encouraged by this strong performance in EBITDA / share is that it represents
both the strong growth from existing businesses and the accretive nature of our
acquisitions in recent years. These strong results also confirm that Envoy
remains on track to meet all communicated financial objectives for fiscal 2001.
The strength in Envoy's year-over-year numbers clearly demonstrate the benefits
Envoy is realizing by continuing to focus on organic growth and the integration
of its best-of-breed services on an international basis. "Delivering integrated
best-of-breed services on an international platform allows us to increase
revenue by providing multiple services to our clients around the world, which is
good news for our clients and our shareholders," stated Envoy President and CEO,
Geoff Genovese.
Key to our performance during the first quarter of fiscal 2001 was Envoy's
organic growth rate of 24%. "Envoy's organic growth is primarily derived
through two key methods. First, each of our operating units focus their efforts
on winning new clients as a key to growth. The Hampel Stefanides $14 Million
Court TV account win, the Sage Information Consultants contracts with
Co-operators Insurance and the U.S.-based wins of Pitney Bowes, NPD Group, and
Oxygen Media are evidence of this. Our other key method to drive internal
growth is to cross sell our services to existing clients as evidenced through
our current work with Steelcase U.S. Our design group recommended our technology
group to the client and the technology area was ultimately awarded an exciting
assignment from Steelcase. Clearly organic growth is one of Envoy's priorities
in 2001," said Geoff Genovese.
Financial Highlights
For the three months ended December 31 2000 1999 % Change
Net Revenue $21,776,358 $12,704,336 71%
EBITDA $4,434,226 $2,068,211 114%
Earnings before Goodwill $1,815,115 $909,499 100%
Net Earnings $1,084,248 $646,931 68%
EBITDA/share $0.20 $0.11 82%
Earnings before Goodwill/Share $0.08 $0.05 60%
Adjusted EPS FD * $0.06 $0.04 50%
Fully diluted shares outstanding for the first quarter 2001 were
22,231,537 and 18,415,201 for the first quarter 2000
* Due to new tax rates, Envoy is taking a one time, non-cash income tax
expense of $100,000. This charge results in a $0.01 reduction in Envoy's
fully-diluted EPS.
About Envoy
Envoy (www.envoy.to) is an international company, committed to delivering
"best-of-breed" services in each of its core disciplines: design, marketing
and technology. Through the convergence of its core disciplines, the Envoy
Communications Group of companies provides innovative business building
solutions for marquee international clients that include adidas-Salomon,
BASF, CIBC, Castrol, CDNOW, FedEx, Hewlett Packard, Honda, Panasonic, Pizza
Hut, Prudential (USA), Safeway, SalomonSmithBarney, Sprint Canada, Steelcase,
TD Waterhouse (USA) and Wal-Mart.
Q1 Results Conference Call
Envoy will be hosting a conference call to announce it's first quarter results
and other corporate developments on February 8th, 2001 at 4:30 EST. The call
in numbers are as follows:
Toronto Area: 416-620-2410
All other areas: 877-871-2677
To access post-view of the conference call, contact:
Toronto Area: 416-626-4100 (access code: 17862872)
All other areas: 800-558-5253 (access code: 17863077)
Cautionary Statement
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E(i)(1) of the
United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause Envoy's actual results to be materially different from any
future results expressed or implied by these statements. Such factors
include the following: general economic and business conditions, changes in
demand for Envoy's services, changes in competition, the ability of Envoy to
integrate acquisitions or complete future acquisitions, interest rate
fluctuations, currency exchange rate fluctuations, dependence upon and
availability of qualified personnel and changes in government regulation. In
light of these and other uncertainties, the forward-looking statements
included in this press release should not be regarded as a representation by
Envoy that Envoy's plans and objectives will be achieved.
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Corporate Investor
Relations: Jason Mandel (416) 599-2256 jasonm@envoy.to
Media Relations: Beverley Hammond (416)593-4181 x401 beverleyh@communique.to