Acquisition costs wipe out ComScore’s third-quarter profits

Revenue was up 43% to $45.7m from $31.9m in the same period last year but income before taxes fell 217% from $2.8m to a loss of $3.3m. Net income fell 333% from $0.9m to a loss of $2.1m.

ComScore bought Dutch online analytics firm Nedstat in September for $36.7m and the products division of telecoms analytics firm Nexius in July.

Excluding acquisition costs, stock-based compensation and other one-time items, ComScore said net income would have been up 44% to $8.2m. The firm said that it won business from 58 new clients during the quarter, as well as adding 203 customers as a result of the Nexius and Nedstat deals.

CEO Magid Abraham (pictured) said: “We are particularly happy with the significant acceleration in the base ComScore business, which we are augmenting by adding compelling new product and service offerings that are both organically developed and from acquisitions.”

Looking ahead, Abraham said that the firm was “even more enthusiastic” about its full-year revenue prospects, with a top-end forecast of $175m – a 37% increase on 2009.