Exhibit 99.2
2003 Annual Results Conference Call Script
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 Annual Financial
Results Conference Call. With us here today is Judi Irving,
HemaCare's President and Chief Executive Officer, and Robert
Chilton, Executive Vice President and 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 2003 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. Today we announced
our financial results for the fourth quarter and the year
ended December 31, 2003. The past year has been very
challenging for me and for all of the members of the
HemaCare management team. When we started out 2003, we were
contending with operating losses from several donor centers
that were severely hindering the Company's ability to
produce sustainable overall profits. We completed an
extensive evaluation of all of our operations and decided to
close several donor centers located in Illinois, North
Carolina, New York and Vermont.
Today I can report to you that we have successfully
completed the closure of all of these centers. The majority
of the costs associated with these closures occurred in the
third quarter.
The operating losses we incurred prior to closing these
centers, along with the costs associated with the closure
plan itself, resulted in sizeable losses during 2003. For
all of 2003, the Company reported a net loss of $4,679,000,
including $1,331,000 in losses associated with operating and
eventually closing non-performing donor centers. In
addition, we established a 100% valuation reserve against
our deferred tax assets, which contributed $2,984,000 to the
reported loss for the year.
The good news is that the elimination of these operations
has freed management to focus more attention on improving
the profitability of the remaining operations. In the
fourth quarter of 2003, the Company reported net income of
$264,000, which represents one of the strongest quarterly
results reported by the Company in recent years. Although
there were several non-recurring events recorded in the
fourth quarter that contributed approximately $85,000 to
this positive result, the elimination of the non-performing
centers was the major cause for this improvement.
I would like to be clear that, although we are pleased with
the fourth quarter results, management remains focused on
improving the Company's long-term profitability. The
Sherman Oaks platelet program continues to produce strong
results, although the recent introduction of bacterial
testing could impact supply and increase the chance of
product expiration. We are continuing to focus on
improving the operating margins in our California mobile
operations and in our blood donor centers in New England.
We are also expanding our marketing efforts for the
Company's therapeutic apheresis services.
Bob Chilton will now review the operating results.
Bob Chilton
Thank you, Judi.
I will now provide some additional detail information
regarding the financial results that we announced today.
As Judi mentioned, HemaCare's fourth quarter results
produced net income of $264,000, or $.04 per share basic and
diluted. This compares with net income of $28,000 for the
fourth quarter of 2002, or an increase of 843%. Especially
significant is that the Company produced this positive
result while revenues declined 10% from the fourth quarter
of 2002. As Judi mentioned, this is mostly attributable to
the closure of several non-performing donor centers in the
third quarter of 2003. In addition, there was a $226,000
decline in blood service revenue and a $210,000 decline in
revenue generated by the Sherman Oaks donor center in the
fourth quarter of 2003 compared with the same quarter in
2002. The decline in service revenue is due to reduced
volume of therapeutic apheresis procedures performed,
principally from the East Coast 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 a 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. Finally, the Company did recognize two non-
recurring events in the fourth quarter. First, the Company
recorded approximately $50,000 in supplemental testing
revenue in the fourth quarter that pertained to services
performed in prior periods. Second, as part of the
completion of the plan to close donor centers, management
negotiated favorable termination agreements for facility
lease obligations that resulted in recognizing a net benefit
in the fourth quarter of $35,000.
For all of 2003, the Company recognized a net loss of
$4,679,000 compared with a net loss of $591,000 for 2002.
Revenues declined 1.2% to $27.5 million from $27.8 million
in 2002. As Judi mentioned, most of the 2003 loss was due
to operating and closure costs attributable to several non-
performing donor operations in the East Coast, an increase
in insurance costs, and the recognition of a 100% valuation
reserve against the Company's deferred tax assets. The
decline in net revenue is attributable to a $915,000, or
10.9%, decline in blood services revenue as a result of a
general decline in therapeutic apheresis procedures in both
the California and New England markets. Despite the closure
of blood centers in 2003, blood product revenue actually
increased $586,000, or 3%, in 2003, mostly due to a $758,000
increase in revenue from the Company's California Mobile
operations. This was mostly due to increases in prices for
whole blood products produced by California Mobile
collections. The increase in prices more than offset the
6.3% decrease in blood product sales from this unit.
Offsetting this increased revenue, was a $1,043,000 decline
in revenue from the Sherman Oaks donor center.
General and administrative expenses decreased in 2003 by
$128,000, or 3.1% when compared with 2002. This is primarily
the result of an absence of expenditures to pursue the ARC
litigation and severance expenses for the Company's former
CEO, that were incurred in 2002. The Company recorded an
increase in audit and tax preparation expenses in 2003, and
significant increases in professional liability and other
insurance costs.
In 2003, the Company increased its valuation allowance
against its deferred tax assets by almost $3 million. This
non-cash charge reduced the net value of the deferred tax
assets on the balance sheet to zero. The assets are income
tax benefits resulting from net 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 for up to ten
years
The balance sheet as of December 31, 2003 shows cash and
cash equivalents of $935,000 which is comparable to
$1,048,000 as of the end of 2002. Net accounts receivable
declined to $3,128,000 as of December 31, 2003, from
$4,932,000 as of the end of December 31, 2002. Management
aggressively pursued outstanding receivables in 2003, which
resulted in a decline in receivables. A further indication
of the success of management's collection efforts is that as
of December 31, 2003, days sales outstanding stood at 42
days compared with 62 days as of the end of 2002. Working
capital stood at $1,179,000 as of the end of 2003, 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 as I discussed
previously, and the reclassification of the Company's line
of credit with Comerica Bank to current since the facility
is scheduled to terminate June 30, 2004. As of December 31,
2003, the Company had $450,000 outstanding on this line, and
$1,363,000 available based on the net receivables balance
which is used to determine availability under the facility
agreement. The Company reduced total outstanding debt by
$686,000 since the beginning of the year. The Company has
requested and recently received written approval from
Comerica Bank to extend the termination of the existing
credit facility. As a result, the Company is expected to
have sufficient resources to satisfy working capital
requirements and finance operations into 2005.
This concludes my prepared remarks regarding the 2003
financial results. I would like to now turn the call back
over to Judi for some concluding remarks.
Thank you Bob.
In closing, 2003 proved to be a challenging year for the
Company, during most of which we focused our attention on
dealing with those operations that were not contributing to
the success of the organization. We are pleased with the
fourth quarter results, which demonstrated the effectiveness
of our plan to close non-performing centers. We must now
focus on improving the profitability of the on-going
operations, and further developing our long-term strategic
plan.
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.