Acxiom Announces Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2010 Results

Sequential Improvement in All Industry Groups

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — October 28, 2009 — Acxiom® Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM), a global leader in interactive marketing, today announced financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 ended September 30, 2009. Acxiom will hold a conference call at 4:30 p.m. CDT today to further discuss this information. Interested parties are invited to listen to the call, which will be broadcast via the Internet at www.acxiom.com.

John Meyer, Acxiom’s chief executive officer and president, said, “The September quarter was another challenging period for us versus the prior-year quarter, but we are beginning to see signs of progress in the business. Our revenue and operating income results improved in the September quarter over the June quarter. In addition, several of our clients have indicated to us that they expect to increase their marketing spending during the second half of our fiscal year. This anticipated increase in client spending coupled with our continued emphasis on expense management gives us confidence that our second half operating income performance will improve over the first half of the fiscal year.”

Second Quarter 2010 Highlights:

* Earnings per diluted share of $0.12 in the second quarter of fiscal 2010, compared to earnings per diluted share of $0.18 in the second quarter of fiscal 2009, before the effect of unusual gain items. GAAP diluted earnings per share in the prior-year period were $0.20, which included $0.02 in unusual gain items.

* Income from operations of $21.2 million in the current year second quarter, compared to income from operations of $31.9 million in the second quarter last year, before the effect of unusual items. The prior year GAAP income from operations was $34.3 million, which included unusual gain items of $2.4 million.

* Revenue of $271.1 million in the current quarter, compared to $307.4 million, excluding an Information Products pass-through contract, in the second quarter a year ago. GAAP revenue in the prior period was $328.9 million, which included pass-through revenue from the Information Products contract of approximately $21.5 million. This contract was modified in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, and the company no longer recognizes pass-through revenue from this contract.

* Operating cash flow of $60.7 million compared to $86.8 million in the second quarter a year ago.
* Free cash flow available to equity of $29.4 million, compared to $71.6 million in the second quarter a year ago. The prior-year amount included $24.2 million of proceeds received from the sale of company-owned real estate. Free cash flow available to equity is a non-GAAP financial measure; a reconciliation to the comparable GAAP measure, operating cash flow, is attached to this news release.

Operational Highlights:

* Information Services: Revenue for the quarter was $210.2 million, compared to $233.6 million in the second quarter of the previous year. Income from operations for the quarter was $20.0 million, compared to $28.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2009.

* Information Products: Revenue for the quarter was $60.9 million, compared with $73.8 million, excluding the pass-through revenue from the Information Products contract referenced above, in the second quarter a year ago. GAAP revenue in the prior period was $95.3 million, which included revenue from the Information Products pass-through contract of approximately $21.5 million. This contract was modified in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, and the company no longer recognizes pass-through revenue from this contract. Income from operations for the quarter was $1.2 million, compared to income from operations of $3.4 million in the second quarter of the previous year.

Income from operations includes expenses that had previously been included in corporate and other expenses. The Company now allocates selling, general and administrative expenses previously included in corporate and other expenses to the two operating segments, Information Services and Information Products. Prior-year results have been reclassified to reflect the change.

Fiscal Year 2010 Year-To-Date Highlights:

Earnings per diluted share of $0.17 for the current year six-month period compared to earnings per diluted share of $0.31 in the comparable six-month period last year, before the effect of unusual gain items. GAAP diluted earnings per share for the six-month period of fiscal 2009 were $0.34 which included $0.03 in unusual gain items.

Income from operations of $33.7 million for the first six months of fiscal year 2010, compared to $56.9 million, before unusual gain items in the comparable six-month period of fiscal 2009. GAAP income from operations for the prior year of $59.9 million included $2.9 million of unusual gain items.

Revenue of $527.1 million in the current six-month period, compared to $616.2 million, excluding an Information Products pass-through contract, in the first half of fiscal 2009. GAAP revenue in the prior period was $660.0 million, which included pass-through revenue from the Information Products contract of approximately $43.8 million. This contract was modified in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, and the company no longer recognizes pass-through revenue from this contract.

Operating cash flow of $76.9 million in the current fiscal year six-month period compared to $115.3 million in the prior year six-month period.

Free cash flow available to equity of $16.3 million for the six months ended September 30, 2009. For the six-month period ended September 30, 2008 free cash flow available to equity was $62.0 million. The prior-year amount included $26.8 million of unusual and one-time items, including $24.2 million in proceeds received from the sale of company-owned real estate. Free cash flow available to equity is a non-GAAP financial measure; reconciliation to the comparable GAAP measure, operating cash flow, is attached to this news release.

Source: Acxiom