For the fourth quarter, Keane reported sales down 6.6% to $230.1m, generating a net income of $11.3m, up from $10.2m in the year ago quarter, thanks to an 8% decrease in sales, general and administrative expenses. For the full year, sales fell by under 1% to $948.3m, while net income nudged up to $34.5m from $33.4m.
For the first quarter, Keane expects to make revenue of $225m to $230m, which means it is expecting sales to decline sequentially for the fifth quarter in a row.
This will be probably be the penultimate time that Boston, Massachusetts-based Keane reveals quarterly accounts, as last week it agreed to be taken private in an acquisition by smaller rival Caritor Inc for $854m.
As a result of the impending transaction, which is expected to be completed in the second quarter, Keane’s conference call had the distinct whiff of executives going through the motions. CEO Kirk Arnold was only recruited to lead Keane a few weeks before it announced the acquisition, and as Caritor’s head Mani Subramanian will lead the merged company, she is looking forward to a massive payout.
One report estimated that she will receive $3.6m, not bad for just a few week’s work, but it means that either Keane’s board made a huge error in putting together her contract, or that the Caritor acquisition came right out of the blue.
Either way, analysts suspect some hasty decision making, and Arnold sidestepped a question about what other strategic alternatives Keane had looked at, pointing to the imminent publication of the preliminary proxy acquisition document, which may provide some answers.
