CEO Till sees ‘continued progress’ as Harris cuts full-year losses

CEO Kimberly Till said that the revenue decline was “contained” within the first half of the fiscal year while consolidated revenue in local currency for the second half was flat as compared with the last six months of fiscal 2009.

Reflecting on the results Till said that the the firm “continued to make progress in improving our financial performance, despite challenging market conditions”. She set her goal for 2011 as “increased sales and revenue while maintaining an attractive cost base”.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose slightly to $43.6m from $43.5m. Operating income for the three months ended 30 June was $186,000 compared with a loss of $58,000 last year.

US revenue was down 6% during Q4, which the firm attributed to a 15% decline in healthcare work and a 10% drop in public affairs work. In the UK a “large tracking study” – which had previously been postponed – was delivered and helped revenue to rise 7%, while sales in France lept 34% thanks to the addition of new clients across several sectors.

The company praised a new management team in Asia as the reason behind a 65% rise in revenue there.

For the full year, US revenue fell 14% because of a “challenging” first six months and the effects of the global recession, which was also to blame for a 6% drop in Canadian revenue.

In the UK the reduction in scope of a large-scale tracking study was blamed for an 11% drop in revenue but there was better news in France, where new clients helped raise revenue by 33%.

German revenue fell 6% after being “essentially flat” for the first nine months of the year while in Asia the figure was up 7%.