ITEX Announces 2nd Quarter Earnings & New SaaS Agreement

ITEX Corporation (OTCBB:ITEX), a leading marketplace for cashless business transactions in North America, filed its Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission and announced results for its fiscal 2009 second quarter ended January 31, 2009.

?ITEX has been fortunate to be resilient to the fallout from the global financial crisis,? affirmed Steven White, Chairman and CEO. ?The current economic turmoil has resulted in an increase in media coverage of the benefits offered to businesses with the use of barter through the ITEX platform.

?New member registration increased 45% this quarter and 31% for the first two quarters of fiscal 2009, when compared to the same periods last year. To capitalize on these difficult economic times, we made a conscious decision at the beginning of this fiscal year to invest more in our technology and support staff, as well as sales, marketing and advertising efforts in order to build market share and increase future profits.

?We saw a small increase in revenues for the quarter,? he continued. ?Expenses and earnings were in line with what we expected. Selling, general and administrative costs increased this quarter primarily due to an increase in bad debt expenses related to increases in revenue and accounts receivable. Other contributing factors were increases in rents due to our August 2008 acquisition, investor relations expense and expenses related to our web services initiative.

?We have virtually no long-term debt on our balance sheet and our short term acquisition debt has been reduced to $301,000. Three of our four acquisitions since August 2005 have been paid in full. All four acquisitions are now fully integrated into our operations and are contributing positively to our long-term strategies.

?For the remainder of this fiscal year, we plan to continue to invest our cash flow and earnings in our future; to be aggressive in utilizing ITEX Marketplace resources. While other businesses slow spending,? White concluded, ?we seek to capture market share and capitalize on opportunities that arise in difficult economic conditions.?

Second Quarter 2009 Highlights

?         Revenue of $4,365,000 compared to $4,175,000 in the same period last year;

?         Income from operations of $235,000 compared to $482,000 in the same period last year, reflecting the increase in selling, general and administrative costs in the quarter;

?         Net cash provided from operations of $1,187,000 compared to $1,805,000 in the same six-month period last year;

?         Cash at end of period was $1,207,000 compared to $1,061,000 at July 31, 2008;

?         Registered 1,108 new members in the current quarter verses 765 last year and registered 2,052 for the six-month period versus 1,571 last year, a 45% and 31% increase respectively;

?         Paid off the remaining balance of our note to The Intagio Group for the recently acquired media services assets;

?         Entered into an agreement with U.S. Bank to increase the maximum loan amount under our revolving credit facility from $1.0 million to $1.5 million and lower the interest rate.

Subsequent Events

?         Signed our first web services SaaS agreement with a Fortune 1000 media company. The agreement grants the right to use their proprietary online marketplace, web interface, and client relationship management platform for a $350,000 platform subscription fee, recurring transaction processing fees based on the gross value of transactional activity hosted by the platform, and support and consulting fees as rendered.

The ITEX proprietary online marketplace, web interface, and client relationship management platform (CRM) can be customized and branded for a variety of online marketplaces or communities. The platform is unique in its ability to track both cash transactions and those based on non-cash, digital currencies.

ITEX Corporation's report on Form 10-Q can be found at www.sec.gov.

Attention Trade Exchange Owners. . .It?s GROW OR GO!

The magic bullet for growth is sales, always has been and always will be...yet the industry?s overall growth is anemic. Why? Maybe it?s because we?re not providing on-going education about our unique way of doing business. Knowledge is always a pre-requisite to taking sustained action.

And for those newcomers, the lifeblood of an exchange, awareness of and understanding about the value of trading is even more important.

If you expect prospects to come aboard and your members to be more active traders, but you are perplexed when the results are less than you desire...there?s a good reason. You must continually educate and motivate every month--month after month after month!

Such action is necessary because, let?s face it, more cash business, not trade, is of paramount importance to your members. You must break through this ?cash only? focus and redirect their thinking toward barter. Although most exchanges don?t see the importance of doing so, many industry leaders are taking action and so can you.

As the owner of your own operation, there is an easy and inexpensive solution for moving forward...look into using The Competitive Edge newsletter. It?s a camera-ready, 4-page, professionally written, informational marketing tool...available in PDF format as well as print. So regardless of how you reach your prospects and clients, you will have the necessary vehicle.

Written especially for you, the busy trade exchange owner, I am certain it will be the best investment you ever make.

For more information about The Competitive Edge, and how it can benefit you click here.

IMS Launches Online Travel-On-Trade Booking Service

International Monetary Systems (OTCBB:INLM) has announced the debut of a full-service, online travel planning and booking resource for their nationwide membership network. The new capability allows members to search online for accommodations available in North America, Mexico and the Caribbean. Reservations and purchase can be made using their IMS Barter membership and trade dollars.

CEO Don Mardak noted, ?For years, IMS has maintained skilled travel planning professionals on staff. Providing travel opportunities to our trade members has always been highly popular, and has always been an enormous generator of trade volume. This is precisely why we have made an additional investment in building this online portal to our travel department.?

?The new online portal to IMS Travel,? pointed out Kim Strabley, managing director of reciprocal and travel division, ?provides members with accommodation booking services they are familiar with from sites like Travelocity.com and Orbitz.com. Members can search properties based upon dates of travel and other specific needs, and pay using their IMS trade dollars.?

For more information on IMS see www.imsbarter.com.

* * ANNOUNCEMENT * * 25 Years Of BarterNews Issues Now In Digital Format Welcome to the largest repository of barter contacts, strategies, and barter techniques in the world. All 64 issues of BarterNews now available in digital format at http://www.barternews-ezine.com.

The New Financiers

By Hazel Henderson

My latest article, ?The New Financiers,? discusses all the new ways of bypassing Wall Street corruption and central bankers? malfunctioning money circuits. In my search for secure electronic trading platforms exclusively for socially-responsible investors and businesses growing the green economy, I refer to Entrex (the Chicago-based entrepreneurs exchange). 

I am now in discussions with Entrex about partnering with us at Ethical Markets Media and growing local green economies using their patented new asset class: the TIGRcub?  (www.entrex.net). Check it out...feedback welcomed. 

In the past weeks, we were delighted to have meetings here with Schumacher Society president Susan Witt, Prof. Jerry Brown, co-author of Freedom from Mideast Oil (2007), and our Advisory Board members Oscar Motomura, president of Amana-Key (Sao Paulo), and John Fullerton of Level 3 Capital Advisors, LLC. We are honored to be working with them all.