Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=106113
Story Retrieval Date: 5/19/2013 2:57:53 AM CST
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Shares of Lime Energy Co. surge on record Q3 revenues despite loss
by Hamsa Ramesha
Nov 19, 2008
Hamsa Ramesha/Medill
Third quarter revenue in 2008 and 2007 for Lime Energy Co. for the period ended Sept. 30. The company saw record revenues in the third quarter.
Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based Lime Energy Co. nearly tripled revenues in the third quarter due in part to strong demand for its energy efficiency services and the June acquisition of Applied Energy Management Inc., helping to send shares up 28 percent Wednesday.
However, Lime Energy’s losses in the quarter widened by 22.3 percent on office expansions and other administrative expenses.
The company, which offers engineering and consulting assistance along with renewable energy solutions and conservation services, raised its revenue guidance for the second half of 2008 to between $45 million and $50 million from between $40 million to $45 million.
Lime Energy reported revenues of $18.3 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with $5.5 million in the third quarter of 2007. Losses in the third quarter widened to $3.1 million, or 36 cents per diluted share, compared with $2.6 million, or 33 cents per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2007. The results beat a single analyst’s estimate for a loss of 56 cents.
“We have gone from designing, engineering and then implementing about $3 million in projects in the first quarter this year, $7 million in the second quarter, $18 million in the third and we expect to complete over $27 million in the fourth quarter with positive adjusted EBITDA,” said CEO David Asplund during a conference call after Tuesday’s market close.
EBITDA refers to earnings before accounting for interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
“I think prospects for the macro level are fundamentally improving” given Lime’s focus on improving efficiency across its operations, said analyst Craig Irwin of Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. “2008 has really been a transition for them.”
Irwin said the company is poised to gain traction in 2009, attributing losses to the restructuring of the business.
Revenues for the nine months ended Sept. 30 more than doubled to $28.2 million from $12.1 million in the year-earlier period. Lime Energy reported a net loss for the nine months ended Sept. 30 of $11.9 million, or $1.46 per diluted share, compared with $7.9 million, or $1.05 per diluted share, in the year-earlier period.
Lime Energy shares closed at $4.22, compared with Tuesday’s close of $3.30.
