Arbinet Announces First Quarter Financial Results

Arbinet Announces First Quarter Financial Results

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., May 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Arbinet-thexchange, Inc. NASDAQ: ARBX today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2008.

First quarter 2008 fee revenues were $13.0 million, a 4.3% increase over fourth quarter 2007 and 2.5% better than the first quarter of 2007. A total of 3.49 billion minutes were bought and sold on Arbinet's exchange in the first quarter 2008, compared to 3.62 billion minutes in the first quarter 2007. Arbinet completed 452.8 million calls during the first quarter 2008, compared to 441.7 million calls in the first quarter 2007. First quarter 2008 trading revenue and related costs each declined approximately $17.0 million or 13.2% compared to the same quarter in 2007, reflecting a reduction in the number of minutes and a lower average trade rate of minutes transacted through the platform.

First quarter 2008 net loss from continuing operations was ($38) thousand or ($0.00) per diluted share, compared to a net loss from continuing operations of ($1.4) million or ($0.06) per diluted share in the first quarter 2007. As stated in the fourth quarter announcement, the Company is in the process of divesting Broad Street Digital Limited, a license management platform for intellectual property rights and digital content distribution, and, accordingly, Broad Street's results of operations and financial position were classified as discontinued operations.

William M. Freeman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Arbinet, said, "We made great strides in what was expected to be a transitional quarter for us as we laid the groundwork for many of the new initiatives we will be launching in the coming quarters. We gained new members each month and ended the quarter with 1,045 members. In March, we also experienced the highest revenue month since the Company's inception. We are pleased with our performance to date and look forward to rolling out our new products and services."

Quarterly Conference Call

Arbinet will host a conference call to discuss its first quarter 2008 results at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time today. The dial-in number for the live audio call beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time is 888-562-3654, or 973-582- 2703 for international callers; the passcode is 45725033. A live web cast of the conference call will be available on Arbinet's web site at http://www.arbinet.com.

A replay of the call will be available from 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, May 8, 2008 through midnight on May 22, 2008 at http://www.arbinet.com and by telephone at 800-642-1687, or 706-645-9291 for international callers; the passcode is 45725033.

About Arbinet

Arbinet is a leading provider of solutions to simplify the exchange of digital communications in a converging world. The Company operates the world's largest electronic market for trading, routing and settling communications capacity. Through its managed service offerings, Arbinet provides solutions to simplify the increased complexity of routing calls across traditional and VoIP networks.

Arbinet's 1,045 voice and data Members, including approximately 75% of the world's 40 largest communication service providers, use Arbinet's Internet based electronic platforms to buy, sell, deliver and settle transactions valued at about $500 million in 2008. These Members include fixed, mobile and VoIP carriers, ISPs and content providers from more than 60 countries who exchange voice, data, content and value added services.

For more information about Arbinet's solutions visit http://www.arbinet.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding anticipated future revenues, growth, capital expenditures, management's future expansion plans, expected product and service developments or enhancements, and future operating results. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by, among other things, the use of forward-looking terminology such as: "believes," "expects," "may," "will," "should" or "anticipates," or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy that involve risks and uncertainties. Various important risks and uncertainties may cause Arbinet's actual results to differ materially from the results indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: the ability of Arbinet to effectively divest Broad Street Digital Limited; members (in particular, significant trading members) not trading on our exchange or utilizing our new and additional services (including DirectAxcess(SM), PrivateExchange(SM), AssuredAxcess(SM) and PeeringSolutions(SM)); continued volatility in the volume and mix of trading activity; our uncertain and long member enrollment cycle; the failure to manage our credit risk; failure to manage our growth; pricing pressure; investment in our management team and investments in our personnel; regulatory uncertainty; system failures, human error and security breaches that could cause Arbinet to lose members and expose it to liability; and Arbinet's ability to obtain and enforce patent protection for our methods and technologies. For a further list and description of the risks and uncertainties the Company faces, please refer to Part I, Item 1A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 17, 2008, and other filings that have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Arbinet assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise and such statements are current only as of the date they are made.

    Contacts:
    Jack Wynne, CFO
    Arbinet-thexchange, Inc.
    732-509-9230

    Andrea Priest / Andi Salas
    Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
    212-355-4449



                 ARBINET - THEXCHANGE, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
                    CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

                                                  Three Months Ended March 31,
                                                          2007        2008
                                       ($ in thousands, except per share data)

    Trading revenues                                    $129,520    $112,442
    Fee revenues                                          12,643      12,959
      Total revenues                                     142,163     125,401
    Cost of trading revenues                             129,561     112,470
                                                          12,602      12,931

    Costs and expenses:
      Operations and development                           5,003       5,742
      Sales and marketing                                  2,000       2,211
      General and administrative                           4,462       3,386
      Depreciation and amortization                        2,053       1,830
      Reserve for litigation                               1,150           -
        Total costs and expenses                          14,668      13,169

    (Loss) from operations                                (2,066)       (238)

    Interest income                                          792         418
    Interest expense                                        (331)       (166)
    Other income (expense), net                              264          29

    Income (loss) before income taxes                     (1,341)         43
    Provision for income taxes                                86          81

    (Loss) from continuing operations                    $(1,427)       $(38)
    Discontinued operations:
       (Loss) from discontinued operations, net of
        income tax of $0 in 2007 and $11 in 2008            (449)       (412)
    Net (loss)                                           $(1,876)      $(450)
    Net (loss) attributable to common stockholders       $(1,876)      $(450)
    Basic net (loss) per share:
    Continuing operations                                 $(0.06)         $-
    Discontinued operations                               $(0.02)     $(0.02)
    Net (loss)                                            $(0.08)     $(0.02)
    Diluted net (loss) per share:
    Continuing operations                                      -           -
    Discontinued operations                                    -           -
    Net (loss)                                                 -           -
    Dividends declared per common stock share                  -      $(0.40)
    Shares used in computing basic net (loss) per
     share                                            25,430,319  24,918,630
    Shares used in computing diluted net (loss) per
     share                                            25,430,319  24,918,630
    Other comprehensive income:
    Cumulative unrealized loss in available-for-sale
     securities                                               (1)         13
    Foreign currency translation adjustment                    6          11
    Comprehensive (loss)                                 $(1,871)      $(426)



                 ARBINET - THEXCHANGE, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
                         CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

                                                         As of        As of
                                                       December 31,  March 31,
                                                          2007        2008
                                       ($ in thousands, except per share data)
                                  Assets
      Current Assets:
    Cash and cash equivalents                            $28,383     $18,256
    Marketable securities                                 20,344      12,574
    Trade accounts receivable, (net of allowance
     of $1,481 and $1,614 at December 31, 2007 and
     March 31, 2008, respectively)                        28,416      31,042
    Prepaids and other current assets                      2,362       4,022
    Current assets of discontinued operations                269         183
      Total current assets                                79,773      66,077

    Property and equipment, net                           23,002      22,457
    Security deposits                                      2,430       2,430
    Intangible assets, net                                 2,018       1,946
    Goodwill                                               2,196       2,193
    Other assets                                              75          55
    Long term assets of discontinued operations              439         656
          Total assets                                  $109,934     $95,814

                    Liabilities & Stockholders' Equity
      Current Liabilities:
    Capital lease obligations-current portion                 $7          $2
    Notes payable                                            493          75
    Due to Silicon Valley Bank                               285         653
    Accounts payable                                      16,123      15,316
    Deferred revenue                                       2,499       2,214
    Accrued expenses and other current liabilities         8,250       7,400
    Current liabilities of discontinued operations           334         155
      Total current liabilities                           27,991      25,815

    Other long-term liabilities                            2,282       1,892
          Total liabilities                               30,273      27,707

    Stockholders' Equity
      Preferred Stock, 5,000,000 shares authorized             -           -
      Common Stock, $0.001 par value, 60,000,000 shares
       authorized, 26,355,641 and 26,570,562 shares
       issued and outstanding, respectively                   26          27
      Additional paid-in-capital                         181,644     172,286
      Treasury Stock, 674,233 and 836,997 shares,
       respectively                                       (4,613)     (6,394)
      Accumulated other comprehensive loss                  (455)       (431)
      Accumulated deficit                                (96,941)    (97,381)
          Total Stockholders' Equity                      79,661      68,107
            Total Liabilities & Stockholders' Equity    $109,934     $95,814

Website: http://www.arbinet.com/




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