Income Statements Effects of Amortizing Intangibles

The following income statements for SOS Staffing Services, Inc. were extracted from the SEC’s EDGAR database

SOS Staffing Services, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Income

Fiscal Years Ended December 28, 1997, December 29, 1996 and December 31, 1995

Fiscal Year (52 Weeks) Ended

1997

1996

1995

SERVICE REVENUES

$ 209,250,847

$ 136,163,973

$ 87,532,903

DIRECT COST OF SERVICES

162,539,859

108,589,322

69,353,212

Gross profit

OPERATING EXPENSES:

46,710,988

27,574,651

18,179,691

Selling, general and administrative

32,867,550

20,397,240

13,826,034

Intangibles and amortization

1,492,637

470,119

32,566

Total operating expenses

34,360,187

20,867,359

13,858,600

INCOME FROM OPERATIONS

12,350,801

6,707,292

4,321,091

OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE):

Interest expense

(368,145)

(301,207)

(145,646)

Interest income

497,661

90,793

109,684

Other, net

145,386

13,695

120,604

Total, net

274,902

(196,719)

84,642

INCOME BEFORE PROVISION

FOR INCOME TAXES

12,625,703

6,510,573

4,405,733

PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES

(including pro forma for 1995)

(5,099,476)

(2,481,413)

(1,728,653)

NET INCOME

$ 7,526,277

$ 4,029,160

$ 2,677,080

NET INCOME PER COMMON SHARE:

Basic

$ 0.78

$ 0.59

$ 0.54

Diluted

$ 0.77

$ 0.59

$ 0.43

WEIGHTED AVERAGE COMMON SHARES:

Basic

9,654,204

6,780,400

4,984,616

Diluted

9,780,505

6,838,479

6,229,021

Required

a. Conduct a horizontal and vertical analysis of SOS’s income statements for all three years.

b. Identify any unusual terms, along with any unusual trends in SOS’s income statements.

c. Identify the most likely reasons for such trends.

d. What business events resulted in SOS’s huge increase in “Intangibles and amortization”?

e. Write a short memo to a prospective investor, evaluating SOS’s future prospects.