A consumer to business information company Angie's List announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016. Total revenue was $83.9 million compared to $83.5 million in the year-ago period.
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This was driven by higher service provider revenue, which increased 2% to $67.5 million, offset by a decline in membership revenue of 6% to $16.3 million from a year ago.
The growth in service provider revenue, which includes both advertising and e-commerce revenue, quarter over quarter was largely the result of higher service provider revenue per average participating service provider and service provider contract value.
These gains were partially offset by the impact of near-term reductions in average e-commerce take rates in previous periods as well as revenue losses attributable to the ongoing migration to our new technology platform.
The decline in membership revenue quarter over quarter is primarily the result of a 12% decrease in membership revenue per average paid member attributable to tiered pricing, which has reduced average membership fees.
The company added 188,242 gross paid memberships in the period, a decline from gross paid member additions of 229,987 in the year-ago quarter.
Operations and support expense was $12.2 million, a decrease from $14.0 million in the year-ago quarter, attributable to quarter over quarter reductions in compensation and personnel-related costs and credit card processing fees.
Selling expense was $27.8 million, down from $28.3 million in the year-ago quarter, due primarily to lower headcount. The total number of employees in the sales organization declined 7% year over year, resulting in reduced selling compensation and personnel-related costs.
Marketing expense, which now includes the marketing costs that were previously classified in general and administrative expense, was $19.1 million, an increase from $18.8 million in the year-ago quarter, attributable to increases in marketing outsourced services expenditures and compensation and personnel-related costs quarter over quarter, partially offset by a decrease in advertising spend over the same time period.
Product and technology expense was $10.0 million, an increase from $8.4 million in the year-ago period, largely attributable to headcount increases.
General and administrative expense was $18.0 million, an increase from $8.7 million in the year-ago period, driven by period over period increases in outsourced services expenditures and compensation and personnel-related costs as well as a $3.5 million one-time contingent liability recorded during the quarter related to pending litigation.
Net loss for the quarter was $4 million compared to net income of $4.4 million in the year-ago quarter, attributable to higher operating expenses, including the aforementioned contingent legal liability recorded in general and administrative expense.
Adjusted EBITDA was $4.8 million for the period, down from adjusted EBITDA of $8.6 million in the year-ago period.
Cash provided by operations for the first quarter was $9.2 million. At March 31, 2016, the balance of cash, cash equivalents and investments was $59.1 million.
Angie's List reiterated its full year guidance for revenue of $345 million to $355 million and adjusted EBITDA of $31 million to $35 million. ■