Yahoo! we've made another profit

NEWS Yahoo! beaten Wall Street expectations and reported its third-consecutive quarterly profit - boosted by a 51 per cent growth in revenue. The web portal reported a fourth-quarter net profit of $46.2m, or eight cents a share, on sales of $285.8m for the period ending 31 December 2002. That compares with a net loss of $8.7m, or two cents per share, and revenue of $188.9m during the same period in 2001. Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel said in a statement: "Over the last 12 months, we have executed against a business plan which has taken Yahoo! from a company with tremendous potential to one with multiple strong businesses, from which we believe we can continue to build a sustainable long-term future." Wall Street had expected Yahoo! to report a profit of six cents a share and revenue of $278.6m, according to First Call's consensus of analysts. The company also reported full-year 2002 revenue of $953.1m. That's a 33 per cent increase from 2001 revenue of $717.4m, but short of the $1.1bn Yahoo! generated during the boom year of 2000. Income for the year reached $106.9m, or 18 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $92.8m, or 16 cents a share, in 2001. Yearly EBITDA hit $206m, compared with a loss of $18.6m in 2001, largely from restructuring and acquisition costs. Free cash flow for 2002 reached $221m, compared with last year's $26.6m loss.