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LOOK-ing pretty good (financial data released)...
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LookSmart Reports First Quarter Revenues of $27.8 Million; Raises Full Year Guidance

Thursday April 29, 4:15 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- LookSmart (Nasdaq: LOOK - News; ASX: LOK - News), a leader in Internet search, today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2004. In a separate release today, LookSmart also announced the acquisition of the business and assets of Net Nanny(TM), a privately held leader in the consumer online filtering sector.

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"LookSmart's focus on providing high performance traffic at a reasonable price is proving to be popular with advertisers and distribution partners, resulting in first quarter results ahead of our expectations," said Damian Smith, LookSmart's chief executive officer. "Our core ongoing business, which excludes our international operations and contributions from MSN, grew over 30% sequentially. With our focused cost reductions substantially complete, healthy growth in our distribution network and contributions from new initiatives such as our acquisition of Net Nanny, we are pleased to significantly increase our guidance for the year. Our increased full year guidance, which reflects greatly reduced revenue from MSN as compared to the first quarter, suggests strong growth within our ongoing distribution network as we continue to add and leverage new sources of high performance search traffic."

LookSmart reported first quarter 2004 revenue of $27.8 million, ahead of its prior guidance of $21 million to $23 million. This includes revenue from MSN domestically of $8 million and international revenue of $4 million. First quarter revenue compares to $33.4 million in the first quarter of 2003, which included domestic revenue from MSN of $22 million and international revenue of $2 million; and $44.1 million in the preceding quarter, which included domestic revenue from MSN of $25 million and international revenue of $6 million.

As of March 31, 2004, total cash and short-term investments were $71.6 million, an increase of $1.6 million from the end of the previous quarter.

GAAP net loss for first quarter 2004 was $7.1 million, or $0.07 per share, which includes reductions in net income of $3.8 million related to restructuring charges and $27,000 due to stock compensation from variable stock options. This compares to net income in the first quarter 2003 of $1.1 million, or $0.01 per share, which included a net gain of $0.2 million related to the purchase of the BT LookSmart joint venture entities and a $0.9 million charge due to variable accounting for repriced stock options.

LookSmart's adjusted net loss, which excludes $27,000 of stock compensation from variable stock options and includes a restructuring charge of $3.8 million, was $7.1 million, or $0.07 per diluted share for the quarter, ahead of the Company's guidance for a net loss of $10 million to $12 million including restructuring charges of approximately $4 million to $5 million. This compares to adjusted net income of $2.0 million, or $0.02 per diluted share in the year-ago period, which excludes $0.9 million of stock compensation from variable stock options.

Adjusted net income/loss is not in accordance with, or an alternative to, GAAP financial measures and may be different from pro forma measures used by other companies. The Company has provided a clear reconciliation between GAAP net income/loss and adjusted net income/loss and has presented the information previously reported together with the financial statements attached to this earnings release. The Company does not provide all of its guidance on a GAAP basis because information relating to the variable accounting for repriced stock options is not accessible on a forward-looking basis and its probable significance is not determinable.

Financial Outlook

For the second quarter ending June 30, 2004, total revenue is expected to be $18 million to $20 million, including approximately $1 million from domestic MSN and $2 million from international operations. In the second and third quarters of 2004, we expect to report results from international operations as discontinued operations. Adjusted net loss for the second quarter is expected to be in the range of $6 million to $7 million, which includes approximately $1 million in restructuring charges.

LookSmart is increasing its full-year guidance and now expects total revenue to be in the range of $76 million to $81 million, including domestic revenue from MSN of approximately $9 million and revenue from discontinuing international operations of approximately $6 million. This compares to previous revenue guidance of a range of $45 million to $50 million.

Adjusted net loss for 2004 is expected to be $20 million to $22 million, which includes restructuring charges of approximately $5 million. This compares to previous adjusted net loss guidance of $26 million to $30 million, including restructuring charges of $5 million to $8 million.

The Company anticipates negative cash flow over the next several quarters reflecting use of cash for working capital, restructuring and investments, but expects to report a cash position of approximately $60 million at June 30, 2004, and a strong cash position throughout 2004.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

Management believes that Adjusted Net Income/Loss is an appropriate measure of evaluating our operating performance because by excluding the impact of variable stock compensation, which we believe is not indicative of our core operating results, the users of the financial statements are provided with a valuable insight into our operating results. Non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for or superior to, cash flow from operations, net income, or other measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Conference Call

LookSmart will host a conference call today at 5:00 p.m. ET (9:00 a.m. Australian ET, April 30, 2004) to discuss its financial results. To listen to the call from the U.S., dial 1-800-218-0204; from Australia, dial 1-800-730-220. The call will also be available live by webcast on LookSmart's Investor Relations Web site at http://www.shareholder.com/looksmart/ .

About LookSmart

LookSmart is a leader in commercial search services and a developer of innovative web search solutions. The Company provides consumers with highly relevant search results through a distribution network that includes LookSmart.com and other top portals and ISPs, while delivering targeted sales leads to online businesses. LookSmart is based in San Francisco, California. For more information, visit www.looksmart.com.