Vancouver's Absolute Software Corp. (TSX:ABT) reported its preliminary 2009 first-quarter financial results and disclosed a revised outlook for the year in an effort to calm a turbulent market for its shares.
For the three-month period ending September 30, 2008, the company said its first-quarter sales contracts are expected to range between $18 million and $18.5 million. Cash from operations is expected to be between $8.9 million and $9.1 million.
The company reported that the economic uncertainty over the last two weeks of September affected the company's quarterly results because a significant portion of its sales contracts come in during the last two weeks of a quarter. It said a number of large deals were put on hold, which will have a negative impact on its quarterly results.
Absolute's stock has experienced the same downturn as the rest of the market. In the past two weeks, the company's stock has fallen more than 50% to close at $5.46 on Thursday from a close of $11 on September 22. The stock has fallen 73% in the past 52 weeks from a high of $20.32.
In an effort to bolster the company's share price, Absolute's board has applied to buy back up to 10% of its shares over the next year in a normal course issuer bid. If fully implemented, the company would remove up to 4.1 million shares from the market.
To try to reassure the market, Absolute's 2009 revenue forecast projected sales contracts between $82 million and $90 million, with cash from operations ranging between $27 million and $33 million.
Absolute said it had more than $70 million in cash and investments and has no debt. With its strong cash flow, it said the company was able to execute its growth plan despite the challenging economic environment.