Scottsdale-based Rural/ Metro Corp. on Tuesday announced a year-over-year increase of 7.6 percent in revenue for its latest fiscal year, as well as a $200,000 increase in net income.
Revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30 totaled $531.1 million, versus $493.8 million for fiscal year 2004. Revenue totaled $137.4 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $124.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2004.
Revenue totaled $145.2 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2005.
Rural/Metro issued preliminary financial results for fiscal 2005 and the fourth quarter as it continues working toward compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. It requires chief executives and chief financial officers to publish information annually on the scope and adequacy of their internal control systems with evidence that the systems can catch anything that could cause a financial misstatement.
"We expect final results to remain consistent with the preliminary results we have issued today," said Jack Brucker, president and CEO. "We are pleased to report that we generated top-line revenue growth as well as year-overyear improvements in operating income for the fourth quarter and the full year when compared to the prior year."
For the fiscal year, Rural/ Metro reported $77.9 million in net income, which includes a $71.5 million deferred income tax adjustment related to past operating losses. It was determined that the income tax benefit would likely not be needed in the future because the company has returned to profitability, said Liz Merritt, company spokeswoman.
Without the deferred income tax adjustment, the company’s net income totaled $6.4 million for the year and $1.9 million for the fourth quarter, compared with $6.2 million and $1.3 million for the previous fiscal year and fourth quarter.
Rural/Metro reported a $2.98 million loss for the third quarter of fiscal 2005.
The company’s efforts to expand in current and new emergency medical service markets resulted in a 7.2 percent or $31.6 million increase in medical transportation and related services revenue, Brucker said.
"In our fire service business, revenue grew for the year by 8.3 percent or $1.1 million," he said. "Our further breakdown on fire services revenue growth shows that approximately half of the revenue came from new fire prescription revenues and half came from rate increases."
Rural/Metro’s stock, traded on the Nasdaq, closed Tuesday at $9.31 a share, down 5.48 percent, on volume of more than 1.3 million shares.
