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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFortune Industries Inc. eked out a profit of $44,000 in its first fiscal quarter – up from $10,000 in 2007 – even as revenue dropped to $36.2 million from $43.8 million in the same period last year.
The Indianapolis-based company yesterday announced financial results for the quarter ended Nov. 30.
“We are ecstatic to have made money in these severe economic conditions,” CEO John Fisbeck said in a prepared statement, praising the company’s recent overhead-reduction efforts.
Last month, Fortune announced that it had sold all its businesses outside of human resources, a shift in strategy aimed at reducing the company’s debt and making financial results less volatile. It had operated as a conglomerate, with holdings in fields ranging from wireless services to ultraviolet printing.
Terms were not disclosed at the time, but Fortune said yesterday that it sold the subsidiaries to entities owned by the company’s majority shareholders in exchange for a $10 million reduction in an outstanding loan balance and promisory note for $3.2 milion.
Fortune said the sale would allow the company to focus on its role as a professional employer organization, handling HR functions for small and medium businesses in 49 states.
“The economy has definitely affected our company, but by becoming a pure-play PEO … and selling our less-profitable subsidiaries, we anticipate continued success,” Fisbeck said.
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