TRO Learning Inc. said its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings plunged 48 percent, to $2.3 million, or 34 cents a share, from $4.4 million, or 71 cents a share, a year earlier.
The Hoffman Estates-based maker of instructional computer courseware said revenues in the quarter, ended Oct. 31, were essentially flat at $16.8 million.
For fiscal 1996, TRO said its earnings plummeted 74 percent, to $982,000, or 16 cents a share, from $3.75 million, or 60 cents a share, in fiscal 1995. Revenues increased 11 percent, to $41.4 million from $37.3 million.
Because of the poor results, TRO said it no longer is in compliance with terms of a loan agreement with its bank, though the company said it expects the bank to give it a waiver.
The company was closed Tuesday and Wednesday and scheduled a meeting Thursday with industry analysts to explain why its profits came in much lower than analyst expectations of $1.04 per share for the quarter.
A month ago, the company reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that its chairman, William Roach, sold 6,500 shares at $18.50 apiece, or $120,250 altogether, in October.
On Tuesday, TRO shares fell $6.75–or 39 percent–to $10.50, after falling to a 52-week low $7.50 earlier in the day on the Nasdaq stock market.
