United Online Provides Update On FTD Spinoff

United Online (UNTD) reported solid Q3 results last week and also provided a brief update on the status of its upcoming spinoff. According to Chairman, President & CEO (all 3? corporate governance issue anyone?) Mark Goldston the company is “continuing to make progress in our plan to spin-off FTD as an independent, publicly-traded company,” and expects the process to be completed by August of 2013. That is a bit later than the original estimate of Q1 2013, but not too long of a delay. These things take time. Click here for our earlier coverage of the situation.

Here is a snapshot of FTD’s performance in Q3 2012 (see the actual press release for footnotes and more details):


	(in millions, except percentages and metrics)
Financial Highlights	Q3 2012			Q3 2011			% Change
Products revenues	$	88.8		$	82.4		8	%
Services revenues		27.6			26.3		5	%
Segment revenues	$	116.4		$	108.7		7	%

Segment income from operations	$	14.2		$	15.5		(9	%)
Segment adjusted OIBDA⁽¹⁾	$	15.2		$	16.6		(8	%)
as a % of segment revenues⁽¹⁾		13.1	%		15.3	%

Metrics Highlights	Q3 2012			Q3 2011			% Change
Consumer orders⁽⁴⁾(in thousands)		1,239			1,104		12	%
Average order value⁽⁴⁾	$	61.06		$	63.46		(4	%)

British Pound / U.S. Dollar exchange rate (average)		1.58			1.61		(2	%)

A quick and very cursory glance at the numbers reveals some positives and some negatives for the unit. While revenues and customer orders continued to grow nicely, OIBDA and the average order value both declined. FX rates (GBP/USD) also continue to cause problems for the company, but those fluctuate. It will be interesting to analyze the trends in more depth.

Always nice to have an update. The stock popped on the announcement and the company continues to ‘review strategic alternatives’ for its other businesses. Nice to see management finally focused on creating value and any further progress on that front could act as additional catalysts for the stock.

Disclosure: Author holds no position in any stock mentioned.