Exhibit 99.2
3rd Quarter Investor Conference Call Script
Friday, November 14, 2003
1:30 PM (Pacific Time)
JoAnn Mannise:
- --------------
Good afternoon. My name is JoAnn Mannise, and I am the
Director of Investor Relations at HemaCare. I would like
to welcome everyone here today to our 2003 Third Quarter
Financial Results Conference Call. With us here today is
Judi Irving, HemaCare's President and Chief Executive
Officer, and Robert Chilton, Chief Financial Officer.
During this call there will be forward-looking statements
on a number of subjects that are based on the Company's
current expectations and are subject to various risks and
uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially.
Our press releases and 2002 annual report on Form 10-K, as
well as our other SEC filings, identify factors that could
affect those results. I refer you to those documents.
And now I would like to introduce Judi Irving who will
start with our prepared comments.
Judi Irving:
- -------------
Thank you, JoAnn.
Welcome to all of you on the call today. As JoAnn
mentioned, Robert Chilton, our new CFO who joined us in the
beginning of October, is here today. We are delighted that
Bob is now part of the management team, and we have already
benefited from his knowledge and experience. Bob is a CPA,
and has an MBA from UCLA, along with a broad background in
the healthcare industry. Bob was Executive Vice President
and CFO for Preferred Health Management, Inc., a radiology
practice management company, and was CFO during the
successful IPO of OrthAlliance, Inc., an orthodontic
practice management company. Later in the call, Bob will
be providing us with specifics concerning our third quarter
results.
As we had previously announced, after an extensive
evaluation of all of our operations, we decided to close
several of our blood management programs. These programs
are all outside of California and had been generating
significant losses for the Company. The programs we
identified for closure are:
the free standing operations in Albany, New York;
Durham, North Carolina; and Williston, Vermont and our
hospital based programs in Chicago, Illinois and in
North Carolina.
The majority of these closures occurred in September, and
costs associated with the closures were recognized in the
third quarter as appropriate. Additional costs related to
the closures will be reflected in our fourth quarter
results.
The third quarter results, which reflect a net loss of
$4,679,000, include a loss before taxes of $1,519,000
primarily due to the write off of center assets and
receivables, severance payments, and the ongoing losses
in connection with the closed operations. Our results
also reflect the establishment of a 100% reserve of
our deferred tax asset of $3,160,000.
The elimination of these operations, which were a
significant drag on earnings and management resources and
attention, will allow us to focus on continuing to improve
our California and our East Coast based operations in New
England and New York.
With respect to our ongoing business units, the Sherman
Oaks platelet program continues to produce strong results
with 3rd quarter unit sales at approximately 80% of those
for the fourth quarter of 2002. We are continuing to focus
on improving the operating margins in our California mobile
operations and remaining blood management programs and are
concentrating our marketing efforts for therapeutic
apheresis procedures in both California and New York.
We believe that the impact of the center closures will be
positive for the Company's results in the future. We
continue to focus on establishing a profitable operating
profile for the Company.
Bob Chilton will now review the operating results.
Bob Chilton
- ------------
Thank you, Judi, for your warm welcome and introduction. I
would like to thank Judi for the opportunity to join the
management team at HemaCare. I am looking forward to
working with all of the staff and members of management to
improve the operations of the Company and build long-term
value for HemaCare's shareholders.
I will now provide some additional detail information
regarding the third quarter results that we announced
earlier today.
HemaCare's third quarter results produced a net loss of
$4,679,000, or $.60 per share basic and diluted. This
compares with a loss of $462,000, or $.06 per share basic
and diluted reported for the third quarter of 2002.
Revenues reported in the third quarter declined 2.8%, or
$201,000 compared with the same period in 2002. This is
mostly attributable to a 17.6%, or $388,000, decline in
blood services revenue compared with the prior year, and a
$281,000 decline in platelet revenue reported by the Sherman
Oaks donor center. The decline in service revenue is due to
reduced volume of procedures performed. This decline in
reported revenue was partially offset by an increase in blood
product sales, primarily from higher blood product
collections by our California mobile operations. The
decline in revenue from the Sherman Oaks donor center is
primarily attributable to a decline in platelet donations
as a result of converting to volunteer program as of
January 1, 2003. However, the sales volume generated by
our Sherman Oaks platelet program continues to improve
since the conversion of the program. The third quarter
unit sales volume averaged over 80% of the volume reported
in the fourth quarter of 2002, just prior to the conversion
to a volunteer program, and reflects an improvement over
the first two quarters in 2003.
As Judi mentioned, management did implement a plan to close
several non-performing donor operations in the East Coast.
The revenue generated during the third quarter by those
operations identified in the plan was $843,000, compared to
$553,000 in the same quarter last year.
Third quarter operations produced an operating loss of
$176,000 compared with $1,022,000 of gross profit for the
same quarter in 2002. The decrease in blood service
revenue that I mentioned earlier contributed to a decline
in gross profit. Gross profit from blood service
operations declined $196,000, or 26.4%, to $546,000 from
$742,000 for the same period in 2002. The primary reason
for the operating loss in the quarter are the expenses
associated with closing the donor centers. These expenses
include $275,000 in unexpired lease obligation expenses,
$285,000 in asset write-downs, severance expenses for
terminated employees, and other associated expenses.
General and administrative expenses increased $156,000, or
13.1% when compared with the third quarter of 2002. This
increase in expenses is mostly attributable to expenses
associated with implementing management's plan to close
donor operations. These expenses include valuation
adjustments on certain assets associated with closed donor
centers, severance payments to management personnel and
other associated costs.
During the third quarter, the Company recorded a valuation
allowance of $3.16 million against its deferred tax
assets. This non-cash charge reduced the net value of the
deferred tax assets on the balance sheet to zero. The
assets were created as a result of income tax benefits that
were recorded as a result of operating losses in prior
years. Current accounting standards place significant
weight on a history of recent cumulative losses, rather
than on forecasts of future potential taxable income, in
determining whether or not a valuation allowance is
necessary. Accordingly, the assets were reserved in full.
The Company's federal net operating loss carryforwards are
not impacted and can continue to be utilized.
The balance sheet as of September 30, 2003 shows cash and
cash equivalents of $1,057,000 which compares favorably to
$1,048,000 as of the end of 2002. Management's emphasis on
aggressive cash collection efforts helped to maintain a
healthy cash balance as of the end of the quarter.
However, net accounts receivable declined as a result to
$3,421,000 as of September 30, 2003, from $4,932,000 as of
the end of December 31, 2002. As of September 30, 2003,
days sales outstanding stood at 45 days compared with 62
days as of the end of 2002, which illustrates the success
of management's efforts to improve cash collections.
Working capital stood at $896,000 as of the end of the
third quarter, compared with $3,474,000 as of the end of
last year. The majority of this erosion in working capital
is associated with the reduction in net receivables, the
write-down in the value of the current portion of the
deferred tax asset, accruals to recognize expenses
associated with closing donor centers that had been
incurred, but not paid, as of September 30, 2003, and finally,
the reclassification of notes payable from long-term to
current. As of September 30, 2003, the Company had
$1,550,000 available from the line of credit with
Comerica Bank and the Company reduced outstanding debt
balances by $511,000 since the beginning of the year.
Therefore, at this time the Company has sufficient
resources to satisfy the foreseeable near-term cash
requirements.
This concludes my prepared remarks regarding the third
quarter financial results. Thank you for your time and
attention.
We are now prepared to open the conference to any questions
you may have. Operator, would you please provide the
callers with the necessary instructions.