Imation Slips To Loss In Q4; Updates On Strategic Transformation - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Imation Corp. (IMN) reported that its net loss for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2014 was $14.4 million or $0.35 per share, compared to net income of $16.7 million or $0.41 per share in the year ago quarter.

Operating loss from continuing operations totaled $12.1 million, or $0.35 per share, in the fourth-quarter 2014, including special charges of $2.1 million, or $0.05 per share. This compared to operating income from continuing operations of $21.1 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, in fourth-quarter 2013, which included special benefits of $9.5 million, or $0.22 per share. Operating results in the fourth-quarter 2013 also benefited from a reversal of an accrual of $9.4 million for copyright levies as a result of a favorable court ruling in France.

Loss per share from continuing operations was $0.35 compared with earnings from continuing operations per share of $0.47 in fourth-quarter 2013. Excluding the impact of the special items, loss per diluted share from continuing operations would have been $0.30 in the latest-quarter compared with earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.25 in the previous year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.21 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net revenue for the quarter was $197.0 million, down 15.4 percent from last year. Foreign currency exchange rates negatively impacted the latest-quarter revenue by 4 percent compared to prior year quarter. Wall Street expected revenues of $201.20 million for the quarter.

In a separate press release, Imation announced that it has been working with Houlihan Lokey as its financial adviser to explore options to unlock embedded value within its consumer storage and accessories or 'CSA' and tiered storage and security solutions or 'TSS' business units.

Imation noted that its strategic transformation has been a multi-year process that has included key acquisitions to bolster its Mobile Security products and Storage Solutions offerings, a major restructuring and down-sizing that created two distinct business units - consumer-centric and commercial-centric - and the divestiture of certain under-performing and non-core businesses.