Pitney Bowes provides road map for long-term growth projections
Provides Financial Outlook for 2007 with EPS Expected in a Range of USD 2.90 –
USD 2.98
STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Pitney Bowes Inc.
(NYSE: PBI) today provided investors with a road map for delivering revenue
and earnings growth over the next five years. The company gave financial
outlooks for each of its seven business segments and committed to reducing
its ratio of selling, general, and administrative expense to revenue from
31 per cent to 28 per cent by 2010.
According to Chairman and CEO, Michael J. Critelli, the company's
ability to establish long-term forecasts reflects the success of its growth
strategies and operational programs, as well as the greater visibility
afforded by the recent divestiture of its capital service business and the
IRS tax settlement. "We are clearly a different company today than we were
five years ago," he noted, "we are now a 'pure-play' mailstream company and
one-hundred percent focused on the opportunities in our core operations.
And given our recent strategic action relative to capital services, we are
confident that we can continue to deliver our targeted results for the
foreseeable future."
The company said that it expects its revenue to grow organically by
four to six percent and to sustain at least an eight to ten percent growth
rate in its earnings per share.
The company also provided specific guidance for 2007. It expects
revenue growth in the range of five to eight percent, which implies an
organic revenue growth rate of four to six percent. It is forecasting
earnings per share of USD 2.90 to USD 2.98 for 2007, which compares on a GAAP
basis with a range of USD 2.47 to USD 2.56 for 2006 — an implied growth rate of
around 13 to 21 percent. Excluding restructuring charges and other special
items, projected earnings per share for 2006 is USD 2.66 to USD 2.72 and, the
company's guidance for 2007 represents a growth rate that is bracketed
around its earnings per share target range of eight to ten percent.
In addition to the financial projections, the meeting included
strategic overviews for each of its business segments and an in-depth look
at its U.S. Mailing business, including its successful management of the
migration to digital mailing technologies.
The company reported that it expects to deliver long-term growth
through execution of the following strategies:
* Strengthening and enlarging its global customer base.
* Influencing the postal environment.
* Driving margin expansion throughout its businesses, and
* Expanding into high growth adjacencies within the mailstream.
Pitney Bowes' combination of organic growth and acquisitions to deepen
its participation in existing markets has allowed it to expand successfully
beyond its historic niche — helping mailers produce mail — into higher
growth markets of creating, distributing and managing within the
mailstream.
Critelli concluded, "We strongly believe that the detailed multi-year
financial road map we have provided investors today and the increased
confidence it evidences in our outlook, in conjunction with the consistent
achievement of our targeted numbers, should lead inevitably to an improved
share price and an attractive return to our shareholders."
Pitney Bowes engineers the flow of communication. The company is a USD 5.5
billion global leader of mailstream solutions headquartered in Stamford,
Connecticut. For more information about the company, its products, services
and solutions, visit http://www.pitneybowes.com.
This document contains "forward-looking statements" about our expected
future business and financial performance. Words such as "estimate,"
"project," "plan," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," and similar
expressions may identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those projected. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to: negative developments in macroeconomic
conditions, including adverse impacts on customer demand, timely
development and acceptance of new products or gaining product approval;
successful entry into new markets; changes in interest rates and foreign
currencies; and changes in postal regulations, as more fully outlined in
the company's 2005 Form 10-K Annual Report filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. In addition, the forward-looking statements are
subject to change based on the timing and specific terms of any announced
acquisitions. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release
are made as of the date hereof and, as with any projection or forecast, we
do not assume any obligation to update the reasons why actual results could
differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
