<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Barrett stock jumps on 2015 profit report

Filing with SEC shows $25.5M profit; stock climbs 25% to $36.50

By , Columbian Business Reporter
Published:

For long-term investors in Vancouver-based Barrett Business Services Inc., it was worth the wait to see how the company was doing financially.

After a filing delay that has led the human resources firm to the brink of a stock delisting, Barrett on Thursday morning reported a $25.5 million profit for 2015, $11.4 million of that coming from the fourth quarter alone.

Investors were pleased, sending the stock traded as BBSI up 25 percent to end the day at $36.50.

Just last week, the company said it was requesting a hearing before a Nasdaq panel to avoid delisting on the grounds that it did not meet deadlines for filing its full-year and fourth-quarter financial statements.

“Filing our 2015 (report) was the first critical step in becoming current in our filing requirements,” CEO Michael Elich said in a release. “We believe this process has made us a stronger company, and we look forward to releasing our first-quarter 2016 results in the coming weeks.”

Revenues in 2015 jumped 16 percent from the year prior, to $740 million. It was in 2014 that the company disclosed it did not have enough reserves to cover pending workers’ compensation claims, a major part of the company’s business. Barrett had to write an $84.7 million check to cover those costs, leading to a $25 million loss in 2014.

The company has since undergone audits and independent investigations, which have cleared the company of legal wrongdoing, although the status of a class-action lawsuit remains uncertain. Barrett this year also fired its chief financial officer following the discovery of “unsupported journal entries,” replacing Jim Miller with interim CFO Thomas Carley.

In Thursday’s report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Barrett also filed restated financial reports for 2013 and 2014.

“Despite the disruption this restatement process has caused our senior management, the fundamentals of our business are strong, which is a testament to the depth of our branch-level talent,” Elich said in the company release.

The company said a growth in new clients for its business management services offset a decline in its staffing services business to account for last year’s revenue growth.

Barrett’s $25.5 million profit in 2015 came out to $3.47 per diluted share, up from a loss of $3.57 per share in 2014. Its fourth-quarter profit grew by 32 percent from the year prior, equalling $1.55 per diluted share.

The company will hold an investor call when first-quarter 2016 earnings are released in coming weeks and provide an updated financial outlook.

BBSI has been traded as high as $53 and as low as $22.55 in the past 12 months.

Loading...
Columbian Business Reporter