WESTWOOD, Mass., April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- LoJack Corporation (NASDAQ:LOJN), the leading provider of tracking and recovery systems for stolen mobile assets, today released updated 2008 guidance.
Richard T. Riley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, "As a result of the disappointing domestic new cars sales in January and February, estimates for the full year 2008 are now expected to be at their lowest level since 1998. The acceleration in the decline of new car sales in the first quarter, announced manufacturing cutbacks on the part of many of the auto manufacturers and concern expressed by several of the large auto retailers, now lead us to believe that the challenges in the domestic auto industry will not improve in the second half of the year, as we originally planned. The issues affecting the industry are particularly pronounced in Southern California, where our penetration of new vehicle sales is among the highest of our markets. It is important to note that we believe our challenges are related to the fundamental issues in the domestic auto industry and do not reflect either significant incursion by competitors or strained relationships with our auto dealer partners.
"We continue to expect solid double-digit increases in unit volume from our international business for the year. While we expect our first quarter international unit volume to be both lower than previously anticipated and lower than the prior year due to the timing of orders from our licensees, we expect to deliver modest unit growth for the first half of the year. We expect that international unit volume will be stronger in the second half of the year and will partially offset the impact of the challenges in our domestic business over the same period of time.
"We now expect that earnings for the year will be approximately $0.75 to $0.85 per fully diluted share, primarily as a result of the difficult domestic economic situation more severely impacting the auto business than we originally anticipated. Given the unusual circumstances, we believe it is helpful to provide earnings per share guidance for the first two quarters of 2008 as well. We expect earnings per fully diluted share of approximately $0.04 and $0.20 for the first quarter and the second quarter of 2008, respectively. Additionally, we now expect revenue to be between $213 million and $218 million for the year.
"These expected results reflect our spending reductions related to lower volumes and our ongoing efforts to manage discretionary spending to mitigate domestic economic challenges. We will, however, continue to make investments in the strategic programs we previously identified to insure our long term growth. We are focused on diversifying the LoJack business through our efforts to enter new markets, grow our international business and develop new products based on our proven technology." The company will host a conference call and webcast at 1:00 PM EDT, Wednesday, April 2, 2008. To participate in the live conference call dial 1- 800-894-5910 and use LOJACK as the conference ID. To access the webcast of the company's conference call, log onto http://www.lojack.com/ (click "About Us," "Investor Relations," and then click "Earnings Conference Call Webcast" under "Investor Resources" or visit http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=47170 ). An archive of the webcast will be available through http://www.lojack.com/.
About LoJack LoJack Corporation, the company that invented the stolen vehicle recovery market, leverages its superior technology, direct connection with law enforcement and proven processes to be the undisputed global leader in tracking and recovering valuable mobile assets. The company's Stolen Vehicle Recovery System delivers a 90 percent success rate in tracking and recovering stolen cars and trucks and has helped recover more than $4 billion in stolen LoJack-equipped global assets. The system is uniquely integrated into law enforcement agencies in the United States that use LoJack's in-vehicle tracking equipment to recover stolen assets, including cars, trucks, commercial vehicles, construction equipment and motorcycles. Today, LoJack operates in 26 states and the District of Columbia, and in more than 30 countries throughout Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Asia.
From time to time, information provided by the company or statements made by its employees may contain "forward-looking" information, which involve risks and uncertainties. Any statements in this news release that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements (including, but not limited to, statements concerning the characteristics and growth of the company's market and customers, the company's objectives and plans for future operations and products and the company's expected liquidity and capital resources). Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and accordingly, actual results could differ materially. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: the continued and future acceptance of the company's products and services; the effectiveness of the company's marketing initiatives; the rate of growth in the industries of the company's customers; the presence of competitors with greater technical, marketing, and financial resources; the company's ability to promptly and effectively respond to technological change to meet evolving customer needs; the extent of the company's use of third party installers and distributors; capacity and supply constraints or difficulties; the company's ability to successfully expand its operations and changes in general economic or geopolitical conditions. For a further discussion of these and other significant factors to consider in connection with forward-looking statements concerning the company, reference is made to the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007.
The company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revision to the forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Contact: Mike Umana
Chief Financial Officer
(781) 251-4712 John Swanson
Swanson Communications, Inc. (516) 671-8582
DATASOURCE: LoJack Corporation CONTACT: Mike Umana, Chief Financial Officer of LoJack Corporation, +1-781-251-4712, or John Swanson of Swanson Communications, Inc., +1-516-671-8582 Web site: http://www.lojack.com/
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