swung to a fiscal third-quarter loss, as the nation's biggest tax preparer said an "industrywide slow start to tax season" hurt revenue.
The company said last month that its tax-return preparations so far this season rose from a year ago, and that it saw strong momentum through February, even after a slow start to the tax season for the whole industry.
H&R Block usually fares better in the fiscal second half after posting losses in its fiscal first half because of the seasonal nature of tax preparation. The company has worked to cut costs, as it has suffered from lower return volume the past several years as more people have turned to doing their own taxes online.
The company said Wednesday that for the tax season through Feb. 28, total tax returns prepared rose 6%, with retail returns were up 3.2%. Total online returns rose more than 30%, while digital returns were up 13%.
For the quarter ended Jan. 31, H&R Block posted a loss of $12.7 million, or four cents a share, compared with a profit of $50.6 million, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, earnings from continuing operations fell to 14 cents from 16 cents a year earlier. Revenue fell 8.9% to $851.5 million.
Last month, the company forecast break-even earnings on revenue of $850 million, both well below the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters at the time. Before H&R Block announced that forecast last month, analysts had expected earnings of 14 cents and revenue of $883.2 million.
Total operating costs increased 3.6%.
In 4 p.m. New York Exchange stock-market trading, H&R Block rose 17 cents, or 1.1%, to $15.19. Shares jumped in after-hours trading, after the release of results.
The company said last month that its tax-return preparations so far this season rose from a year ago, and that it saw strong momentum through February, even after a slow start to the tax season for the whole industry.
H&R Block usually fares better in the fiscal second half after posting losses in its fiscal first half because of the seasonal nature of tax preparation. The company has worked to cut costs, as it has suffered from lower return volume the past several years as more people have turned to doing their own taxes online.
The company said Wednesday that for the tax season through Feb. 28, total tax returns prepared rose 6%, with retail returns were up 3.2%. Total online returns rose more than 30%, while digital returns were up 13%.
For the quarter ended Jan. 31, H&R Block posted a loss of $12.7 million, or four cents a share, compared with a profit of $50.6 million, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, earnings from continuing operations fell to 14 cents from 16 cents a year earlier. Revenue fell 8.9% to $851.5 million.
Last month, the company forecast break-even earnings on revenue of $850 million, both well below the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters at the time. Before H&R Block announced that forecast last month, analysts had expected earnings of 14 cents and revenue of $883.2 million.
Total operating costs increased 3.6%.
In 4 p.m. New York Exchange stock-market trading, H&R Block rose 17 cents, or 1.1%, to $15.19. Shares jumped in after-hours trading, after the release of results.
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