MIND beats by 5 cents, guides '09 above consensus

Bill Mitcham, the Company's President and CEO, stated, "We are extremely pleased with our record fourth quarter and fiscal 2008 results. Our core equipment leasing business remained strong in fiscal 2008, increasing almost 38 percent over last fiscal year, while sales in our Seamap segment more than doubled from last year. In addition, due to strong customer demand, we acquired $26 million of new lease pool equipment during fiscal 2008, including $13 million in the fourth quarter. These additions, along with the $25.5 million of new equipment added in fiscal 2007, have helped us diversify and strengthen our world-wide market presence.

"We believe the seismic industry is currently experiencing a period of sustained growth as evidenced by strong projected spending by E&P companies over the next few years; increasing demand for seismic equipment; higher channel counts on land seismic surveys; a rapidly expanding marine market; and new, more challenging geographic regions of exploration. With over 70 percent of our revenues coming from outside of North America, we expect to benefit from faster seismic market growth in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Far East."Robert Capps, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, stated, "Regarding our outlook for fiscal 2009, we expect continued strength in our equipment leasing business. However, because we generated such exceptional revenue growth at Seamap during fiscal 2008, we don't expect Seamap's revenues to be up in fiscal 2009, but we do expect improved profit contributions from Seamap this coming year. Therefore, given our current pipeline of business and our fiscal 2009 outlook, we expect revenues to range between $78 million and $82 million, operating income to range between $18 million and $22 million, and earnings per share to range between $1.35 and $1.40 per diluted share."

Analysts were looking for $1.28 in fiscal 2009 on $74 million in revenues.