Value Line, Inc. Announces First Quarter Results and Establishes Reserve for SEC Settlement Offer
September 11 2009 - 11:26AM
PR Newswire (US)
NEW YORK, Sept. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- (NASDAQ:VALU) Value
Line, Inc., a leading New York based publishing and investment
management company, reported results for its fiscal quarter ended
July 31, 2009. For the three months ended July 31, 2009 the
Company's net loss of $31,580,000 or $3.16 per share was
$36,642,000 below net income of $5,062,000 or $0.51 per share for
the three months ended July 31, 2008. Operating loss of $42,786,000
for the three months ended July 31, 2009 was $50,251,000 or below
operating income of $7,465,000 last fiscal year. Shareholders'
equity of $47,313,000 at July 31, 2009 was 46.1% lower than
shareholders' equity of $87,711,000 at July 31, 2008. These results
reflect the Company's decision to establish an approximately $48
million reserve because of an offer it has made to settle a
previously disclosed SEC investigation begun in 2005. The
settlement offer, in which Value Line neither admits nor denies the
investigation's findings, relates to commissions paid by nine Value
Line equity mutual funds to an affiliated brokerage subsidiary from
1986 through November 2004. The settlement offer will not be
effective unless approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission
and no assurance can be given that such approval will be obtained.
The settlement offer seeks to avoid costly and protracted
litigation. Terms of the settlement offer call for Value Line to
pay approximately $43.7 million of the reserve into a Fair Fund to
reimburse shareholders who owned shares in the affected mutual
funds in the period covered by the settlement. In addition, under
the settlement offer, the CEO and former CCO would be barred from
serving as an officer or director of a public company and from
association with an investment adviser, broker-dealer or registered
investment company subject, in the case of the CEO, to a limited
exception from the associational bar for a period of one year from
the entry of the settlement Order to enable steps to be taken that
will terminate her association with the Value Line mutual funds,
asset management and distribution businesses. Howard A. Brecher,
Chief Legal Officer of the Company, would become the Acting
Chairman and Acting Chief Executive Officer after entry of a
settlement order. He has been on the Board of Directors for 17
years and is deeply knowledgeable about all our businesses. Mr.
Brecher is a graduate of Harvard University, Harvard Business
School and Harvard Law School. He also holds a Master's Degree in
tax law from New York University. Value Line, which previously
reported the investigation in public filings dating from back to
2005, has restructured its investment management subsidiary and
brokerage relationships and is confident that they conform to
applicable regulatory requirements. Value Line management ended the
mutual funds' use of the affiliated brokerage in 2004. Value Line,
Inc. is a leading New York based publishing and investment
management company. The Company believes The Value Line Investment
Survey is one of the most widely read independent investment
publications. Value Line also produces and publishes other
proprietary investment periodicals in both print and electronic
formats. The Company has copyright data, which it distributes under
copyright agreements for fees including certain proprietary ranking
system information and other proprietary information used in third
party products, and provides investment management services to the
Value Line family of no-load mutual funds and institutional and
individual portfolios. Safe Harbor Statement under the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 This report contains
statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to
future events or conditions (including certain projections and
business trends) accompanied by such phrases as "believe",
"estimate", "expect", "anticipate", "will", "intend" and other
similar or negative expressions, that are "forward-looking
statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those
projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including
but not limited to the following: -- dependence on key personnel;
-- maintaining revenue from subscriptions for the Company's
products; -- protection of intellectual property rights; -- changes
in market and economic conditions; -- fluctuations in the Company's
assets under management due to broadly based changes in the values
of equity and debt securities, redemptions by investors and other
factors; -- dependence on Value Line Funds for investment
management and related fees; -- competition in the fields of
publishing, copyright data and investment management; -- the impact
of government regulation on the Company's business and the
uncertainties of litigation and regulatory proceedings; --
terrorist attacks; and -- other risks and uncertainties, including
but not limited to the risks described in Item 1A, "Risk Factors"
of the Company's Annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended
April 30, 2009, and other risks and uncertainties from time to
time. Any forward-looking statements are made only as of the date
hereof, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or
revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise. DATASOURCE: Value Line,
Inc. CONTACT: William McBride, or Kreab Gavin Anderson,
+1-212-515-1970, both for Value Line, Inc.
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