International Monetary Systems (ITNM.OB) has filed its first quarter
report on Form 10-Q. During the quarter ended March 31, 2012,
International Monetary Systems generated revenues of $3,266,779, an
increase of $287,934 or 9.7%, compared to the first quarter of 2011.
This is the result of a 9.5% increase in transactions processed,
attributable in part to their 2011 acquisitions.
Operating expenses in the quarter were $3,254,606, an increase of
$53,426 or 1.7%, compared to the first quarter of 2011. This
increase is primarily due to increased employee costs, including
staff costs in offices acquired in 2011, higher variable
compensation tied to higher revenue, and expansion of the tele-selling
staff.
Don
Mardak, IMS� Chairman of the Board, stated, �Historically, the first
quarter is the slowest quarter of our year. In those three months
however, IMS showed a nice year-to-year increase in trading activity
and the resulting net revenue. The company also had a small profit
from operations. This compares to operating losses for the same
period in most recent years. We believe this result is a good
indicator for the balance of 2012.�
Operations
Revenue increased 9.7% in the first quarter of 2012, compared to the
first quarter of 2011.
Cash provided by operations was $149,307 in the first three months
of 2012, compared to cash provided by operations of $94,832 for the
same period in 2011.
Return to Shareholders
During the first quarter of 2012, 346,804 shares of the company�s
stock have been repurchased under their stock buyback plan and stock
buyback guarantees.
Current Quarter
The
company generated operating income of $12,173 for the first quarter,
compared to an operating loss of $(222,336) in the first quarter of
2011. After adjusting for interest and income taxes, the net loss
for the quarter narrowed from $(184,555) in the first quarter of
2011 to $(44,883) in the first quarter of 2012. Interest expense has
increased as the company services the increased debt load taken on
strategically to fund the stock buyback program expanded in 2011.
For
more information
click here.
Americans Embracing The
Change To Flexibility From Stability
For
decades renting has long symbolized striving, but well short of
achieving. That has changed as we continue to climb our way out of
the Great Recession. In short, Americans are getting over the idea
of owning the American dream; increasingly they�re OK with renting
it.
Across the board, for goods ranging from cars to books to clothes,
Americans are increasingly acclimating to the idea of giving up
stability of being an owner for the flexibility of being a renter.
And the new realities of our increasingly mobile economy make it
more likely that this transition from an Ownership Society to what
might be called a Rentership Society, far from being a drag, will
unleash a wave of economic efficiency that could fuel the next boom.
The
cold, unsentimental fact about the American dream is that many have
been disenfranchised from it. For the past three decades,
especially, consumers haven�t so much bought their quality of life,
as they�ve borrowed from banks and credit card companies.
That�s what the Rentership Society is all about � buying more
intelligently, and it starts at home, literally. Housing is the
biggest single component of consumption in the U.S. economy and the
source of much of our present misery. According to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, the typical consumer spends 32% of his or her
budget on shelter. (In the last decade that generally meant
borrowing a lot of money to afford ownership of a home.)
Homeownership grew steadily, finally peaking at a record 69% in
2006, according to the Census Bureau. But those gains were
short-lived and came at a truly massive cost; a huge mortgage bust,
expensive bailouts of Freddie Mac and Fannie May, an overhang of
millions of foreclosed properties, and failing home prices.
Ownership-boosters failed to note that homes purchased in 2005 and
2006 with no-money-down, interest-only mortgages weren�t really
bought. They were simply rented until the �owner� flipped them or
walked away from the mortgage. Far from strengthening low-income
neighborhoods, this destabilized them through the inevitability of
foreclosure.
According to Moody�s, by late 2011 it was cheaper to rent than to
own in 72% of American metropolitan areas � an increase from 54% a
decade ago. About three million more households rent today than did
at the height of the bubble.
In
the post-bust climate, renting has emerged as a much more
economically efficient way to pay for housing. A one-year lease
represents a far less onerous financial obligation than a 30-year
mortgage. And, for an increasing number of Americans, it simply
makes more sense to rent these days.
Is Your Trade Exchange Missing Out On
Valuable New Business?
If
your barter company�s listing on BarterNews.com isn�t current, you
are definitely missing out on new business. The web site
BarterNews.com receives heavy traffic � with over 150,000 page-views
every month. Entrepreneurs and corporate executives check the
thousands of articles, the weekly �Tuesday
Report,� and the �Contacts
Section� of our site. They use the latter to find barter
companies with which to do business.
Is
your barter company�s listing up-to-date?
To
keep your listing current is very easy. See the links below to (A)
update any changes to your company�s listing, such as new location,
phone number, web site or other information, and (B) if your company
has not been listed.
Here�s how to get on board:
To
make changes to your listing
click here.
For
new listings
click here.
Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, consultant
to corporate giants and author of The Change Masters and When
Giants Learn to Dance, says that the big ideas described in her
books boil down to the four F�s�be fast, focused, flexible and
friendly.
Fast:
Rapid pace of change in business requires firms of all sizes to be
quick on their feet.
Focused:
Avoid taking part in extraneous activities just because you think
you have to be in them to look like a big company.
Flexible:
Develop a spirit of teamwork and cooperation in the business.
Building team spirit and getting people more interested in the goals
of the company are much more important than internal competition.
Friendly:
Adopt the idea of growing more quickly and more efficiently by
forming strategic alliances with other businesses.
You
don�t have to wait until you are big, or you acquire somebody, or
you are acquired yourself. It is an enormously liberating idea,
knowing that small business can accomplish big things without having
to deal with a bigger payroll or lots of red tape.
So
keep it fast, focused, flexible and friendly no matter what the size
of your business!
