(NAVARRE LOGO)
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Jim Gilbertson, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
763-535-8333
jgilbert@navarre.com
Cary Deacon, COO Licensing and Publishing Joyce Fleck, VP Marketing
763-535-8333 763-535-8333
cdeacon@navarre.com jfleck@navarre.com
NAVARRE CORPORATION RAISES GUIDANCE FOR NET SALES AND NET INCOME FOR
FISCAL 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - February 23, 2004 - Navarre Corporation (Nasdaq: NAVR), a
distributor and publisher of a broad range of home entertainment and multimedia
software products, today raised guidance for net sales and net income for the
2004 fiscal year.
The Company is now forecasting that its fiscal year 2004 net sales will increase
23 to 25%, and its net income is expected to increase 70 to 80% over the prior
fiscal year. The Company had previously announced guidance that projected an
increase in net sales of 7 to 10%, and an increase in net income of 14 to 25%
over the prior fiscal year.
Eric Paulson, President and CEO, Navarre Corporation, stated, "Our Distribution
business has demonstrated superior organic growth across all of the categories
it distributes; PC and console software, DVD Video and music. The Publishing
Group is experiencing excellent sales and continues to add to Navarre's overall
margin and profit. We believe that it is important to update our guidance to
more clearly represent these trends and their impact on our results for this
fiscal year."
ABOUT NAVARRE
Navarre Corporation (NASDAQ: NAVR) provides distribution and related services to
leading developers and retailers of home entertainment content. The company
operates under two business divisions; Distribution Services which includes PC
software, video games, CD audio and DVD video; Publishing which includes Encore,
Navarre's majority owned subsidiary, a leading interactive publisher in the
videogame and PC CD-ROM markets, and BCI Eclipse, a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Navarre Corporation, which provides niche DVD video and audio products.
Navarre's client-specific delivery systems allow its product lines to be
seamlessly distributed to over 18,000 retail locations throughout North America.
The Company provides such value-added services as inventory management,
Web-based ordering, fulfillment and marketing and EDI customer and vendor
interface. Since its founding in 1983, Navarre has built a base of distribution
partnerships with a broad base of leading retailers across the mass merchant,
music, computer and office specialty, wholesale club and military PX channels,
as well as software content developers from all categories of the industry and
independent record labels encompassing all musical genres. For more information,
please visit the Company's Web site at www.navarre.com.
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SAFE HARBOR
"The statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are
"forward looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities
Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are
intended to be covered by the safe harbors created by these sections. The
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and the actual
results that the Company achieves may differ materially from these
forward-looking statements due to such risks and uncertainties, including, but
not limited to, the Company's dependence upon a limited number of large
customers that account for a significant part of its business, developments in
the retail and consumer markets for prerecorded music products and computer
software products, the Company's ability to successfully increase its sales of
video and DVD products, retail consumer buying patterns, the ability of the
Company and the music industry generally to maintain or increase sales in light
of the wide-spread internet-based music swapping and file sharing by consumers,
new and different competition in the Company's traditional and new markets,
seasonality in its business and the fact that a large portion of the Company's
revenues have traditionally been related to the holiday selling season, the
Company's ability to successfully act as distributor to on-line retailers, the
Company's ability to manage its inventory, the Company's dependence upon
recording labels and artists, the Company's dependence upon obtaining and
maintaining license agreements with software publishers, the Company's ability
to react to changes in the distribution of software and prerecorded music, the
Company's dependence upon a key employee, namely, Eric H. Paulson, Chairman of
the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer who has been with the Company
since its inception in 1983, the ability of the Company's majority-owned
subsidiary Encore Software, Inc, a videogame and CD-ROM publisher, to
successfully develop and distribute new and existing products, the ability of
the Company to integrate the business of BCI Eclipse, and the ability of BCI
Eclipse to develop and distribute DVD/Video products. A detailed statement of
risks and uncertainties is contained in the Company's reports to the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including in particular the Company's Form 10-K for the
year ended March 31, 2003. Investors and shareholders are urged to read this
document carefully. The Company can offer no assurances that any projections,
assumptions or forecasts made or discussed in this release" NAVARRE CORPORATION
RAISES GUIDANCE FOR NET SALES AND NET INCOME FOR FISCAL 2004", dated February
23, 2004, will be met, and investors should understand the risks of investing
solely due to such projections. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise
any forward- looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that
may arise after the date of this press release.
Investors and shareholders may obtain free copies of the public filings through
the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov or at one of the SEC's
other public reference rooms in New York, New York or Chicago, Illinois. Please
call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information with respect to the SEC's
public reference rooms. Free copies of these documents may be obtained by
contacting Kathy Conlin at 763-535-8333.
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