Item 2. Managements Discussion
and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Cautionary Statement
This Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed
should be considered forward-looking statements and readers are cautioned not
to place undue reliance on those statements. These statements are only
predictions, and actual events or results may differ materially. The
forward-looking statements give our current expectations or forecasts of future
events. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate
strictly to current facts. They use words such as will, anticipate, estimate,
expect, project, intend, plan, believe, target, forecast, and
other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of
future operating or financial performance. These forward-looking statements are
made based on information available as of the date of this report and are
subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the Companys
actual results and financial position to differ materially from those expressed
or implied in the forward-looking statements and to be below the expectations
of public market analysts and investors. Investors should bear this in mind as
they consider forward-looking statements.
These risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to, those discussed in Part II Item 1A Risk Factors and
elsewhere in this Form 10-Q. You should understand that it is not possible
to predict or identify all such factors. Consequently, you should not consider
any such list to be a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties
faced by us.
The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release
the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect
events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events, except as required by applicable laws and regulations.
The following discussion is intended to assist in the
understanding and assessment of significant changes and trends related to the
results of operations and financial condition of Westaff, Inc., together
with its consolidated subsidiaries. This discussion and analysis should be read
in conjunction with the Companys Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes
included elsewhere in this Form 10-Q and in the Companys Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 3, 2007.
Company
Overview
We provide staffing services primarily in suburban and
rural markets (secondary markets), as well as in the downtown areas of
certain major urban centers (primary markets) in the United States (US),
the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Through our network of
Company-owned, franchise agent and licensed offices, we offer a wide range of
staffing solutions, including permanent placement, replacement, supplemental
and on-site temporary programs to businesses and government agencies. Our
primary focus is on recruiting and placing clerical/administrative and light
industrial personnel. We have almost 60 years of experience in the staffing
industry and, as of January 26, 2008, operated through 204 offices in 45
states and three foreign countries. As of January 26, 2008, 68% of these
offices were Company-owned and operated and 32% were operated by franchise
agents. Our corporate headquarters provides support services to the field
offices in areas such as marketing, human resources, risk management, legal,
strategic sales, accounting, and information technology.
To complement our service offerings, which include
temporary staffing, permanent placement, temp-to-hire services, payroll
services and on-location programs; we utilize a number of tools focused on
increasing our pool of qualified candidates. Additionally, we employ a robust,
targeted marketing program as well as a consultative sales process, and both of
these tools assist in our sales efforts to new and existing customers. Management believes all of these tools
enhance our competitive edge and position us to effectively pursue high growth
market niches.
The staffing industry is highly competitive with
generally few barriers to entry, which contributes to significant price
competition as competitors attempt to maintain or gain market share. While the
price competition continues in 2008, we have noted consolidated margin
improvements as compared to the prior year. On a prospective basis, we believe
17
our focus on increasing clerical/administrative
sales, improving results from underperforming field offices and prudently
managing costs will permit us to improve our operating margins.
It
is important to note that our business tends to be seasonal with sales for the
first fiscal quarter typically lower than other fiscal quarters due to it
containing traditional holidays as well as varying degrees of customer closures
for the holiday season. These
closures and post-holiday season
declines in business activity negatively impact orders received from customers,
particularly in the light industrial sector. Demand for staffing services has
historically tended to grow during the second and third fiscal quarters and has
been greatest during the fourth fiscal quarter due largely to customers
planning and business cycles. Furthermore, our fourth fiscal quarter consists
of 16 or 17 weeks, while the first, second and third fiscal quarters consist of
12 weeks each.
Domestically,
payroll taxes and related benefits fluctuate with the level of payroll costs,
but tend to represent a smaller percentage of revenue and payroll costs later
in our fiscal year as federal and state statutory wage limits for unemployment
are exceeded on a per employee basis.
Workers compensation expense, which is incurred domestically and in
Australia, generally varies with both the frequency and severity of workplace
injury claims reported during a quarter. Adverse and positive loss development
of prior period claims during a subsequent quarter may also contribute to the
volatility in our estimated workers compensation expense.
Our
operating results may fluctuate due to a number of factors such as:
·
seasonality, especially in
our light industrial business,
·
wage limits on statutory
payroll taxes,
·
claims experience for
workers compensation,
·
demand and competition for
our services, and
·
the effects of acquisitions.
In
addition, our operating results have also historically tended to follow
seasonal sales trends with the bulk of annual operating profits falling within
the third and fourth fiscal quarters. The
Company will recognize a charge to earnings for the previously capitalized
costs associated with the former facility of approximately $0.4 million in the
second quarter of fiscal 2008.
Critical Accounting Policies
The
preparation of our financial statements in conformity with generally accepted
accounting principles in the United States of America requires management to
make estimates and assumptions affecting the amounts and disclosures reported
within those financial statements. These estimates are evaluated on an ongoing
basis by management and generally affect revenue recognition, workers
compensation costs, collectibility of accounts receivable, impairment of
goodwill and intangible assets, contingencies, litigation and income taxes.
Managements estimates and assumptions are based on historical experiences and
other factors believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results
under circumstances and conditions different than those assumed could result in
differences from the estimated amounts in the financial statements.
Our critical accounting policies are
described in Item 7 Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations and in the notes to the consolidated
financial statements in the Companys previously filed Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the fiscal year ended November 3, 2007. We adopted the provisions of FIN 48 effective
November 4, 2007, the opening day in the current 12-week period ended January 26,
2008. There were no other changes to our
policies during the 12-week period ended January 26, 2008.
Executive Overview
Our
consolidated net loss for the quarter
was $1.9 million compared with net income of $0.4 million for the same
period last year. The impact of a
softening economy, the disruption caused by our implementation of a new
Pay/Bill system during the first quarter, and extended holiday closures at a
number of our customers negatively impacted our performance. The closure of a number of branch offices in
2007 and the termination of unprofitable customer accounts also impacted the
year over year comparison for revenue results.
We are not satisfied with our performance and have made changes in our
Domestic operational structure to address both people and process inefficiencies.
Our development of new metrics reporting has enhanced our ability to more
quickly gain insight into performance deficiencies. We remain committed to enhancing the
profitability of our accounts and are pleased that we saw continued improvement
in gross margin percentage on temporary
placements in the United States. Most of
18
the
shortfall in revenue was isolated to the United States. Beyond the softening
economy, much of the remaining shortfall can be attributable to the impact of
customer closures having a larger effect
than planned as many of our manufacturing clients closed down for two weeks over the Christmas
to New Years holiday season. A soft
economy will continue to impact the companys performance, however, we do not
anticipate the declines attributable to the holiday season to be an impact in
future quarters. We have implemented other initiatives designed
to increase domestic sales prospectively, which should assist in growing
domestic revenue over the first quarters results. In addition to this, we are not satisfied
with the operating results of our United Kingdom operations, which generated an
operating loss in the first quarter. As compared to the prior year, our gross
margins in the United Kingdom have deteriorated, partially due to a shift in
revenue volume away from commercial accounts, coupled with growth in two large,
national accounts, which generate lower margins for us.
We
have had some success in reducing our
selling and administrative costs in total,
however, as a percent of total revenue we believe that there are
additional opportunities for savings.
On
February 28, 2008 we finalized a new five-year $50 million credit facility
syndicated through U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo
Bank. The facility is available
for general corporate purposes, working capital needs and acquisitions. The
agreement consists of a $50 million credit facility with a $35 million
sub-limit for stand-by letters of credit.
The borrowings are secured based upon a percentage of certain eligible
billed and unbilled accounts receivables.
The
total $50 million five-year facility is replacing Westaffs existing revolving
credit facility with GE Capital and Bank of America, N.A which we believe
contains favorable terms in the aggregate.
We believe
the new facility provides Westaff with the
financing structure that will meet both short-term and long-term financial
objectives
.
As
a result of our new credit facility which became effective on February 28,
2008, we will recognize a charge to earnings for the previously capitalized
costs associated with the former facility of approximately $0.4 million in the
second quarter of fiscal 2008.
Results of Operations - Fiscal Quarter ended January 26, 2008 and
Fiscal Quarter ended January 20, 2007
Revenue
Gross revenue declined by $13.1 million or 10.1% to
$116.8 million for the first fiscal quarter of 2008 as compared to the first
fiscal quarter of 2007. Domestic revenue declined by $16.2 million or 16.6% to
$81.0 million driven largely by an 18.5% decrease in billed hours. This
decrease was experienced predominately in our South and West regions of our
Domestic business as a result of lower billings for several of our larger
customers as well as including a significant project for a single customer that
generated $0.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2007. Total billings for the top 20 customers in
the first fiscal quarter of 2008 declined by $1.2 million or 5.2% to $21.6
million compared to the same period for fiscal 2007. Our average bill rate on a per hour basis for
temporary services increased 2.1% in the first quarter of fiscal 2008 compared
with the first quarter of fiscal 2007.
Internationally, gross revenue increased by $3.0 million
or 9.3% to $35.8 million for the first fiscal quarter of 2008 as compared to
the first quarter of 2007. $3.8 million
of this increase was attributed to Australia, with the United Kingdom and New
Zealand experiencing a decrease of $0.5 million and $0.2 million,
respectively. The increase in Australia
gross revenue in local currency was A$0.8 million, which translated to an
increase of $3.7 million as a result of a significant decline in the US dollar
to the Australian dollar from the first quarter of fiscal 2008 to the first quarter
of fiscal 2007. The increase in local
currency was caused primarily by new
customers in the first quarter of fiscal 2008.
The decline in revenue in the United Kingdom was not
impacted by currency translation. The
decline was a result of fewer branches in the first fiscal quarter of 2008
compared with the same period last year.
The decline in revenue in New Zealand was approximately NZ$0.6 million
which was offset by favorable currency translation of $0.4 million. NZ$0.4 million of the decline was a result of
a significant loss of business in a single branch. 61.6% of the revenue from that branch was
from a single customer who reduced their orders as a result of a decline in
demand for their products.
Costs of services and gross
margin
Costs of services include hourly wages of temporary
employees, employer payroll taxes, state unemployment and workers compensation
costs and other temporary employee-related costs. Costs of services decreased
$10.5 million or 9.8% to $96.6 million for the fiscal 2008 quarter as compared
to the fiscal 2007 quarter. The larger
percentage decrease in gross revenue than in direct costs caused consolidated
gross margin percentage to decrease slightly to
19
17.3% in fiscal 2008 from 17.6% in fiscal 2007. Domestic gross margin increased slightly from
17.7% in the fiscal 2007 quarter to 17.9% in fiscal 2008. This increase was achieved in spite of
decline in permanent placement revenue, which typically has higher margins, from
$1.0 million in fiscal 2007 to $0.5 million in fiscal 2008. The increase in gross profit was achieved as
a result of a focus on the elimination of unprofitable business, following the
field restructuring in the third quarter of fiscal 2007.
The gross margin in Australia, in local currency,
decreased from 13.8% in the first quarter of fiscal 2007 to 12.9% in the first
quarter of fiscal 2008, primarily as a result of a decrease in human resource
consulting revenue which stopped in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007. The gross margin for temporary labor in
Australia, in local currency, declined slightly from 11.3% in the first quarter
of fiscal 2007 to 11.2% in the first quarter of fiscal 2008.
The average bill rate in the United Kingdom increased
mainly as a result of legislative increases in minimum wage and holiday
entitlements. Overall gross margin in
local currency declined from 25.6% to 24.0%.
This was a result of business mix as the rate for two on-site locations
comprised a larger portion of total revenue as a result of branch closures.
The gross margin in New Zealand, in local currency,
increased significantly from 26.5% in the first fiscal quarter of 2007 to 30.5%
in the first fiscal quarter of 2008. The
increase was largely driven from an increase in permanent placement fees which
constituted 7.3% of gross revenue in fiscal 2008 as compared to 3.0% of total
revenue in fiscal 2007. The margin on
temporary labor also increased from 22.5% in fiscal 2007 to 23.0% in fiscal
2008.
Franchise agents share of gross
profit
Franchise agents share of gross profit represents the
net distribution paid to franchise agents based either on a percentage of the
sales or gross profit generated by the franchise agents operations. Franchise
agents share of gross profit decreased $0.1 million or 4.0% to $3.4 million
which was slightly greater than the decline in overall franchise owned gross
revenue. Franchisees generally receive a
greater share of permanent placement revenue which declined in line with the overall
decline in permanent placement revenue in the first quarter of fiscal
2008. As a percentage of consolidated
revenue, franchise agents share of gross profit increased slightly from 2.7%
for the fiscal 2007 quarter to 2.9% for the fiscal 2008 quarter. The increase was a result of franchisee
revenue not dropping as significantly as the total decline in Domestic revenue.
Selling and administrative
expenses
Selling and administrative expenses decreased $0.1
million, or 0.8% to $17.4 million, for
the first quarter of 2008
as compared to the first quarter of 2007. This decrease is primarily
attributable to decreased salary and related costs of $0.6 million, as a result
of decreased headcount following the restructuring in the third quarter of
fiscal 2007. We experienced a decrease of $0.7 million of salary and related
costs in our Domestic operations which were offset by an increase
internationally of approximately $0.1 million.
We
achieved cost savings in Domestic operations in the areas of facilities,
advertising and promotion and supplies totaling $0.6 million as we consciously
looked at opportunities to reduce spending in light of the significant decline
in gross revenue. In addition, we
incurred lower communications and services costs, largely due to improvements
made in our information systems infrastructure. These reductions were offset by a
significant increase in bad debt expense from less than $0.1 million in the
first quarter of fiscal 2007 to $0.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008. Management is also closely monitoring slow
paying customers in light of the slow down in the Domestic economy and is more
proactive in reserving for those amounts in the early stages of identifying
concerns.
Our
professional fees increased by $0.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008
over the first quarter of fiscal 2007.
Several factors caused the increase including additional unanticipated
accounting fees for our fiscal 2007 audit together with continued costs
incurred towards our required compliance with the provisions of
Sarbanes-Oxley. We also incurred
significant post system implementation costs associated with the conversion of
our Pay-Bill system which went live during the first quarter of 2008.
We
also benefited from the recognition of $0.6 million of previously deferred gain
in the first quarter of fiscal 2008 related as a result of the termination of
our guarantee on a bank note payable related to sale of one of our franchise
locations during fiscal 2005.
The
remaining increase of approximately $0.2 was in a number of different
categories, the most significant being an increase in maintenance related costs
of $0.2 million and travel related costs caused primarily by the elimination of
20
branch
managers domestically following the 2007 restructuring which resulted in increased travel by area
managers. We also increased our
reimbursement rate for vehicles in line with Internal Revenue Service rates.
As
a percentage of revenue, selling and administrative expenses were 14.9% for the
fiscal 2008 quarter, compared to 13.5% for the fiscal 2007 quarter. The
increase as a percent of sales is primarily due to the decreased level of sales
as total selling and administrative costs declined in the first quarter of 2008
quarter as compared to the first quarter of 2007.
Restructuring benefit
We recorded restructuring charges in the third
and fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 related to a reduction in force and closure
of several branch offices. In connection
with the closure we recorded an expense in the third and fourth quarter for
severance payments and an estimate for lease termination costs calculated for
the remainder of the lease term reduced by an estimate for sublease income. During the first quarter of fiscal 2008 we
successfully negotiated early termination agreements for six locations and
entered into a sublease for one location.
The results of this activity caused us to reduce our estimated remaining
obligation by $0.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008. We are still responsible for lease payments
on 16 locations and are actively negotiating early terminations, where
possible, and sublease opportunites to mitigate our obligation.
Depreciation and amortization
Depreciation
and amortization increased $0.5 million or 50.3% to $1.4 million for the first
quarter of 2008 , as compared to the first quarter of 2007. The increase was caused primarily as a result
of the new Pay-Bill system
implementation costs, which were previously capitalized during pre-launch
stages and now are amortized to income concurrent with the launch of the system
in the the first quarter of fiscal 2008.
Net interest expense
Net
interest expense increased by $0.2 million, or 35.1% to $0.7 million for the 2008
quarter, as compared to the 2007 quarter.
In addition to a higher effective rate of interest caused by our default
under the terms of our agreement with GE during the third quarter of 2007, the
increase was caused principally by increased borrowings under our credit line
during fiscal 2008. The impact of a
lower sales volume and and increases in
our days sales outstanding for accounts receivable required us to draw
additional funds to support our working capital needs.
Income taxes
For
the fiscal quarter ended January 26, 2008, we recorded a consolidated
income tax benefit of $0.6 million on pre-tax loss of $2.5 million. The prior
year quarters tax benefit was $0.6 million lower than this years, primarily
because of the pre-tax income generated in the first quarter of the prior year
and domestic workers opportunity tax benefits of $0.4 million related to 2006,
largely offset by income taxes from various domestic and international
jurisdictions. Under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, we are required
to evaluate the realizability of the deferred tax assets based on our ability
to generate future taxable income. We
have not provided for a valuation reserve as we believe that we will generate
sufficient taxable income to fully utilize net operating loss and tax credit
carryforwards, however, if we are unable to return to our historical levels of
profitability, we may need to establish a reserve against our deferred tax
asset which would result in a reduction of our assets, stockholders equity and
adversely affect our operating results.
Net (loss) income
The
result of the aforementioned items was a net loss for the first quarter of
fiscal 2008 of $1.9 million, or $0.11 per share, as compared with net income of
$0.4 million, or $0.02 per share for the first quarter of fiscal 2007.
Liquidity
and Capital Resources
We require significant
amounts of working capital to operate our business and to pay expenses relating
to employment of temporary employees. Our traditional use of cash is for
financing of accounts receivable, particularly during periods of economic
upswings and growth, when sales are seasonally high. Temporary personnel are
typically paid on a weekly basis while payments from customers are generally
received 30 to 60 days after billing.
We finance our operations
primarily through cash generated by our operating activities and borrowings
under our revolving credit facilities. Net cash used by operating activities
was $3.4 million for the first quarter of 2008, compared to cash provided by
operating activities of $2.3 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2007. This
$5.7
21
million decrease is
primarily a result of a net loss of $1.9 million compared with net income of
$0.4 million for the first quarter of 2007.
Collections of accounts receivable was the largest significant source of
cash providing $4.0 million during both the first quarter of fiscal 2008 and
the first quarter of fiscal 2007. The
change in accounts receivable domestically was $5.6 million during the first
quarter of fiscal 2008 which was a combination of collections and a decrease in
accounts receivable from decreased sales during the quarter. We also experienced a reduction in accounts
receivable in the United Kingdom during the first quarter of fiscal 2008 of
$1.6 million as a result of increased collections combined with a decrease in
sales. We saw an increase in accounts
receivable in Australia of $3.1 million during the first quarter of fiscal 2008
caused partially by our first quarter falling prior to the first of the month
while our most recent fiscal year included a 53rd week and fell after the first
of the month.
Our number of days sales
outstanding, measured by dividing our ending net accounts receivable balance by
total sales multiplied by the number of days in the fiscal quarter, (DSO)
increased to 51.4 days at January 26, 2008 compared to from 47.0 days at January 20,
2007. We saw an increase in our
Domestic services DSO as well as in all of our international locations.
We reported a decline in our
Domestic DSO at year end, however, as a result of billing issues following our
conversion to a new Pay-Bill system, together with economic slowing we have
seen an increase in our Domestic DSO from 43.8 days at fiscal year end to 49.2
days at January 26, 2008. This also
represents an increase from the 47.4 days at January 20, 2007. We believe that we have resolved a
significant portion of customer billing questions and have focused our efforts
on reducing our DSO. We have brought on
contract labor with collection experience to assist in collection of past due
accounts and are hopeful that this will assist us in driving our DSO back to
acceptable levels.
Our Australian DSO increased
significantly to 55.4 days at January 26, 2008. This was up significantly from the 47.7 day
level November 3, 2007 and 47.5 days at January 20, 2007. The increase was principally attributed to
several accounts, one account with a balance in excess of A$1million who have
slowed their repayment from approximately 60 days to an excess of 65 days. Additionally, Australia provides Santas to
retail locations during the holiday season.
These accounts tend to be slower paying and there was an increase in the
Santa business at year end. This work is
performed and billed at the same time each year and the first quarter for
fiscal year 2008 ended one week later then the first quarter of fiscal
2007. There has not been a significant
increase in amounts over 60 days as a percentage of total accounts receivable
and we feel our reserves for bad debt are adequate.
Our DSO in the United
Kingdom,after taking into account the reclassification discussed in Note 1 of
the financial statements, has dropped to
58.3 days at Janaury 26, 2008 compared with 59.0 days at November 3,
2007. This amount however is up
significantly from the 41.7 day level at January 20, 2007. This increase was caused by a shift in
business to more managed accounts which typically are slower pay. The increase last year was a result of a key
employee involved in the collection process being on leave during fiscal
2007. We are hopeful that we will
continue to drive DSO lower, however, our efforts will be affected by the mix
of managed accounts.
New Zealand accounts
receivable represent just over 1% of total accounts receivable and are not a
significant driver of our consolidated DSO.
New Zealand DSO levels were 42.5 days, 33.8 days and 43.1 days at January 26,
2008; November 3, 2007 and January 20, 2007, respectively. The decrease at November 3, 2007 was
primarily a result of payments from customers made at the end of the
month. Our fiscal year ended November 3,
2007 had 53 weeks causing the period to end after the first of the month. The increase in DSO has not been accompanied
by an increase in past due amounts and we believe that the increase, like
Australia, is a result of the timing of period ends. The variances are more exaggerated because of
the impact of slight increases in accounts receivable balances against a relatively
low revenue base amount.
Cash used for investing
activities was $0.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008, as compared
to $1.0 million in the first quarter of
fiscal 2007. Capital expenditures, which are primarily for information system
initiatives both domestically and internationally, represented the majority of
this decrease in both quarters. Cash
provided from financing activities was $3.2 million in the first quarter of
fiscal 2008 compared with cash used for financing activities of $64,000 in the first quarter of fiscal
2007. We increased our short-term
borrowing in Australia by $3.5 million in order to provide cash as our accounts
receivable increased during the period and we saw a reduction of our accounts
payable. We paid down our Domestic line
of credit by $0.2 million as we reduced our accounts receivable in an amount
greater than our paydown of accounts payable and accrued expenses. The cash provided from financing activities
was reduced by the reduction of principal on capital lease obligations of $0.1
million. This compared with less than
$0.1 million of borrowings for the first quarter of fiscal 2007 and $0.1
million received from the issuance of common stock offset by repayment of principal
on capital leases of $0.1 million and debt issuance costs of $0.1 million.
22
In February 2004, we
completed the sale of our former corporate headquarters building for cash
proceeds of $1.9 million. The proceeds were used to pay down outstanding
borrowings under our revolving credit facilities. We have an outstanding $0.7
million irrevocable standby letter of credit as a security deposit for the December 2002
sale leaseback of the land and buildings housing our administrative offices.
In May 2002, we entered
into agreements with GE Capital, as primary agent, to provide senior secured
multicurrency credit facilities that originally expired in May 2007. The
credit facility comprised a five-year syndicated Credit Agreement (the Multicurrency
Credit Agreement) consisting of a $50.0 million U.S. Revolving Loan
Commitment, a £2.74 million U.K. Revolving Loan Commitment (U.S. dollar
equivalent of approximately $4.0 million at the date of the agreement), and a
$5.0 million term loan, which was repaid during fiscal 2003. In addition, a
five-year Australian dollar facility agreement (the A$Facility Agreement)
was executed on May 16, 2002, consisting of an A$12.0 million revolving
credit facility (U.S. dollar equivalent of approximately $6.0 million at the
date of the A$Facility Agreement).
On January 25, 2007, we
and our lenders, executed an amendment to the A$ Facility Agreement, which
extended the agreement for two additional years to May 2009.
As of January 26, 2008,
our total borrowing capacity was $11.4 million consisting of $5.9 million for
the domestic operations, $1.6 million for Australia and $3.9 million for the
United Kingdom.
On February 28,
2008, we were advanced credit in the
form of letters of credit issued and loans advanced in an aggregate amount of
approximately $29.6 million under a Financing Agreement, dated as of February 14,
2008 (the Financing Agreement), with U.S. Bank National Association (U.S.
Bank) and Wells Fargo Bank.
The Financing Agreement
provides for a new five-year US$50 million revolving credit facility, which
includes a letter of credit sub-limit of US$35 million. This new Financing
Agreement replaces our U.S. Revolving Loan Commitment and the £2.74 million
U.K. Revolving Loan Commitment The
maximum borrowing availability under the Financing Agreement is based upon a
percentage of certain eligible billed and unbilled Domestic and U.K. accounts
receivable. Borrowings under the
Financing Agreement bear interest, at our election, of either U.S. Banks prime
rate plus 0% or at LIBOR plus an applicable LIBOR rate margin ranging from
1.25% to 2.00%. A default rate would apply on all loan obligations in the event
of default under the Credit Documents, at a rate per annum of 2% above the
applicable interest rate. Interest is payable on a monthly basis. The credit
obligations under the Financing Agreement are secured by a first priority
security interest in our assets, with certain exceptions set forth in the
Financing Agreement and the other Credit Documents.
We have an unsecured
subordinated promissory note payable to the former Chairman of the Board of
Directors in the amount of $2.0 million with a maturity date of August 18,
2007, and an interest rate equal to an indexed rate as calculated under the
Companys credit facilities plus seven percent (13.5% at January 26,
2008), compounded monthly and payable 60 calendar days after the end of each of
our fiscal quarters. Payment of interest is contingent on the Company meeting
minimum availability requirements under its credit facilities. Additionally,
payments of principal or interest are prohibited in the event of any default
under the credit facilities. Following
our default at the end of third quarter fiscal 2007, GE Capital exercised their
right to prohibit the repayment of the note at its maturity and has denied our
request to pay quarterly interest.
Unpaid interest at January 26, 2008 was $171,000.
We work to balance our
worldwide cash needs through dividends from and loans to our international
subsidiaries. These loans and dividends are limited by the cash availability
and needs of each respective subsidiary, restrictions imposed by our senior
secured debt facilities and, in some cases, statutory regulations of the
subsidiary. The U.S. operations cannot directly draw on the excess borrowing
availability of the U.K. or Australian operations; however, we may request
dividends from the U.K. The U.S. can also request repayments on its
intercompany loan to Australia, along with intercompany interest and royalties,
although remittances from Australia may be limited by certain covenants under
the terms of the Australia credit facility. Outstanding principal on the
intercompany loan to Australia was approximately $4.8 million as of January 26,
2008. An additional $1.7 million was
outstanding from New Zealand to the U.S.
We are responsible for and
pay workers compensation costs for our domestic temporary and regular
employees and are self-insured for the $750,000 deductible amount related to
workers compensation claims. Typically, each policy year the terms of the
agreement with the insurance carrier are renegotiated. The insurance carrier
requires us to collateralize our obligations through the use of irrevocable
standby letters of credit, surety bonds or cash.
23
For our 2008 policy year
insurance program, we anticipate total cash premium payments of $4.2 million
will be paid during fiscal 2008 in equal monthly installments, which commenced
on November 1, 2007. Cash payments for 2008 policy year claims will be
paid directly by us up to our deductible which was increased from $500,000 per
claim to $750,000 per claim for fiscal 2008. As of January 26, 2008, we
had outstanding $27.3 million of letters of credit to secure all estimated
outstanding obligations under our workers compensation program for all years
except 2003, which is fully funded although subject to annual retroactive
premium adjustments based on actual claims activity. We will also make ongoing
cash payments for claims for all other open policy years (except for 2003 as
noted above).
We calculate the estimated
liabilities associated with these programs based on our estimate of the
ultimate costs to settle known claims as well as claims incurred but not yet
reported to us (IBNR claims) as of the balance sheet date. Our estimated
liabilities are not discounted and are based on information provided by our
insurance brokers, insurers and actuary, combined with our judgment regarding a
number of assumptions and factors, including the frequency and severity of
claims, claims development history, case jurisdiction, applicable legislation
and our claims settlement practices. We maintain stop-loss coverage with third
party insurers to limit our total exposure for each of these programs.
Significant judgment is required to estimate IBNR amounts as parties have yet
to assert such claims. If actual claims trends, including the severity or
frequency of claims, differ from our estimates, our financial results could be
impacted. We continue to evaluate other
opportunities to further strengthen our financial position. However, we believe
that if our proposed financing will provide us with sufficient borrowing
capacity, together with cash generated through our operating performance, to
meet our working capital needs for the foreseeable future.
Item 3. Quantitative and
Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
We are exposed to certain
market risks from transactions that are entered into during the normal course
of business. Our primary market risk exposure relates to interest rate risk. At
January 26, 2008, our outstanding debt under variable-rate interest
borrowings was approximately $9.9 million. A change of two percentage points in
the interest rates would cause a change in interest expense of approximately
$0.2 million on an annual basis. Our exposure to market risk for changes in
interest rates is not significant with respect to interest income, as our
investment portfolio is not material to our consolidated balance sheet. We
currently have no plans to hold an investment portfolio that includes
derivative financial instruments.
For the 12 weeks ended January 26, 2008, our international
operations comprised 30.7% of our gross revenue and, as of the end of that
period, 23.2% of our total assets. We are exposed to foreign currency risk
primarily due to our investments in foreign subsidiaries. Our multicurrency
credit facility, which allows our Australian and United Kingdom subsidiaries to
borrow in local currencies, partially mitigates the exchange rate risk
resulting from fluctuations in foreign currency denominated net investments in
these subsidiaries in relation to the U.S. dollar. Our new credit agreement
with U.S. Bank does not contain a borrowing facility for our United Kingdom
subsidiary, however, their accounts receivable are included in the computation
of our borrowing base. The amount of
short term borrowings in the United Kingdom over the past year were minimal and
we do not believe this limitation will severely impact our foreign currency
risk. We do not currently hold any
market risk sensitive instruments entered into for hedging risks related to
foreign currencies. In addition, we have not entered into any transactions with
derivative financial instruments for trading purposes.
Item 4T.
Controls and Procedures
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to
ensure that information required to be disclosed in our Exchange Acts reports
are recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods
specified in the SECs rules and forms, and that such information is
accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive
Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions
regarding required disclosure based on the definition of disclosure controls
and procedures in Rule 13a-15(e). In
designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management
recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and
operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired
control objectives, and management necessarily is required to apply its
judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and
procedures.
We carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the
participation of our senior management, including our Chief Executive Officer
and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation
of our disclosure controls and procedures as of January 26, 2008, the end of
the period covered by this periodic SEC report.
Based upon the foregoing, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief
Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were
not effective at that date due to a material weakness relating to a lack of
qualified resources within the
accounting department. Management has
already taken steps to remediate this matter as outlined below.
The Company maintains internal controls and procedures requiring that
accounts be reconciled internally on a prompt and regular basis, and always
prior to the end of a reporting period.
Account reconciliation is to be performed by qualified accounting
personnel and subjected to review by separate supervisory personnel prior to the
end of each reporting period.
24
A number of substantial challenges were presented to the accounting
department of the Company in closing the first quarter of fiscal 2008.
-
The Company
underwent a change in management in fiscal 2007 including the hiring of a
new Chief Executive Officer during second quarter 2007, Chief Financial
Officer and Controller during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007.
-
In connection
with the adoption of Staff Accounting Bulletin 108 Considering the
Effects of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in
Current Year Financial Statements(SAB 108) the Company invested
significant resources to assess the magnitude of the adjustment to
beginning retained earnings for prior period errors. The application of SAB 108, including
documenting the impact on prior years, involved significant time from key
accounting personnel. The result
of this assessment was that the Company strengthened control procedures
related to ensuring that timely account reconciliations are
performed.
-
The Company
implemented a new PeopleSoft Pay-Bill technology platform at the beginning
of the period covered by this periodic report. A number of issues with the
implementation arose that were not detected during testing of the
technology. These issues caused
disruption to the Companys business and customer relationships and
required substantial manual intervention from the accounting department to
resolve, including material amounts of time from key accounting personnel
of the Company.
-
The fiscal
2007 audit was the first conducted by our new audit firm and was not
concluded prior to end of our first quarter of fiscal 2008.
These factors together with the fact that the first quarter consisted
of 12 weeks which ended prior to issuance of our November 3, 2007 audited
financial statements resulted in a failure of our internal review process to
detect inadequately prepared account reconciliations on a timely basis. Supervisory review of account reconciliations
has been identified by management as a key control.
In recognition of the importance of a strong control environment the
Company has taken and will continue to take a number of steps to improve the
function of its accounting department in implementing existing control
procedures, including changes in personnel, increases in the level of seniority
and credentials of senior accounting managers, the hiring of a new financial
reporting manager, and changes in internal reporting relationships to improve
the ability of senior accounting managers to ensure that existing controls and
procedures are implemented on a timely basis.
The Company believes that these changes will allow the control
procedures as designed to operate effectively for the second and future
quarters.
Part II. Other Information
Item
1. Legal Proceedings
In the
ordinary course of our business, we are periodically threatened with or named
as a defendant in various lawsuits. The
principal risks that we insure against are workers compensation, general
liability, automobile liability, property damage, alternative staffing errors
and omissions, fiduciary liability and fidelity losses.
During the fourth quarter of
fiscal 2005, we were notified by the EDD that our domestic operating subsidiaries
unemployment tax rates would be increased retroactively for both calendar years
2005 and 2004, which would result in additional unemployment taxes of
approximately $0.9 million together with interest at applicable statutory
rates. Management believes that it has properly calculated its unemployment
insurance tax and is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. We
have timely appealed the ruling by the EDD and are working with our outside
counsel to resolve this matter. A
hearing officer has been assigned to the matter. We are awaiting confirmation of a hearing
date from the EDD.
Other
than the action listed above, we are not currently a party to any material
litigation. However, from time to time we have been threatened with, or named
as a defendant in litigation brought by former franchisees or licensees, and
administrative claims and lawsuits brought by employees or former employees.
Management believes the resolution of these matters will not have a material
adverse effect on our financial statements.
Item
1A. Risk Factors
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contains
forward-looking statements concerning our future programs, products, expenses,
revenue, liquidity and cash needs as well as our plans and strategies. These
forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, and we assume no
obligation to update this information, except as required by applicable laws
and regulations. Numerous factors could cause actual results to differ
significantly from the results described in these forward-looking statements,
including the following risk factors.
Investing in our securities involves risk. The
following risk factors, issues and uncertainties should be considered when
evaluating our future prospects. In particular, please consider these risk
factors when reading forward-looking statements which appear throughout this
report. Forward-looking statements relate to our expectations for future events
and time periods. Generally, words such as expect, intend, anticipate and
similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Each of these
forward-looking statements involves risks and uncertainties, and future events
and circumstances could differ significantly from those anticipated in the
forward-looking statements. Any one of the following risks could harm our
operating results or financial condition and could result in a significant
decline in the value of an investment in us. Further, additional risks and
uncertainties that have not yet been identified or which we currently believe
are immaterial may also harm our operating results and financial condition. Certain of the risk factors set forth in the Companys
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 3, 2007 have
materially changed. Accordingly, we have
updated and restated our risk factors in their entirety below.
25
We have significant working
capital requirements and are heavily dependent upon our ability to borrow money
to meet these working capital requirements.
We require significant amounts of working capital to
operate our business and to pay expenses relating to employment of temporary
employees. Temporary personnel are
generally paid on a weekly basis while payments from customers are generally
received 30 to 60 days after billing. As a result, we must maintain sufficient
cash availability to pay temporary personnel prior to receiving payment from
customers. Any lack of access to liquid
working capital would have an immediate, material, and adverse impact on our
business.
To date, we have financed, and expect to continue to
finance, our operations primarily through borrowings under our revolving credit
facilities and also through cash generated by our operating activities. As of January 26, 2008, our total borrowing
capacity was $11.4 million, consisting of $5.9 million for the domestic
operations, $1.6 million for Australia and $3.9 million for the United Kingdom. On February 14, 2008, we entered into a new
Financing Agreement with U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo Bank that provides for a new
five-year US$50 million revolving credit facility, which includes a letter of
credit sub-limit of US$35 million. The
new Financing Agreement replaced the $55 million U.S. Revolving Loan Commitment
and the £2.74 million U.K. Revolving Loan Commitment under our credit
facilities with GE Capital. Our
Australian subsidiary continues to maintain a A$12 million Australian dollar
facility agreement with GE Capital that expires in May 2009.
The amounts we are entitled to borrow under our
revolving credit facilities with US Bank and Wells Fargo Bank in the United
States and with GE Capital in Australia are calculated daily and is dependent
on eligible trade accounts receivable generated from operations, which are
affected by financial, business, economic and other factors, as well as by the
daily timing of cash collections and cash outflows. If we experience a significant and sustained
drop in operating profits, or if there are unanticipated reductions in cash inflows
or increases in cash outlays, we may be subject to cash shortfalls. If such a shortfall were to occur for even a
brief period of time, it may have a significant adverse effect on our business,
financial condition or results of operations.
Furthermore, our receivables may not be adequate to allow for borrowings
for other corporate purposes, such as capital expenditures or growth
opportunities, and we would be less able to respond to changes in market or
industry conditions.
We typically experience significant seasonal and other
fluctuations in our borrowings and borrowing availability, particularly in the
United States, and have, in the past, been required to aggressively manage our
cash to ensure adequate funds to meet working capital requirements. Such steps included working to improve
collections and adjusting the timing of cash expenditures, reducing operating
expenses where feasible and working to generate cash from a variety of other
sources.
We have historically experienced periods of negative cash
flow from operations and investment activities, especially during seasonal
peaks in revenue experienced in the third and fourth fiscal quarters of the
year. In addition, we are required to
pledge amounts to secure letters of credit that collateralize certain workers
compensation obligations, and these amounts may increase in future
periods. Any such increase in pledged
amounts or sustained negative cash flows would decrease amounts available for
working capital purposes and could have a material adverse effect on our
liquidity and financial condition.
The staffing industry is highly competitive with
limited barriers to entry which could limit our ability to maintain or increase
market share.
The staffing industry is highly competitive with
limited barriers to entry and continues to undergo consolidation. We compete in regional and local markets with
large full service agencies, specialized temporary and permanent placement
services agencies and small local companies.
While some competitors are smaller than us, they may enjoy an advantage
in discrete geographic markets because of a stronger local presence. Other competitors have greater marketing,
financial and other resources than us that, among other things, could enable
them to attempt to maintain or increase their market share by reducing
prices. Furthermore, in past years there
has been an increase in the number of customers consolidating their staffing
services purchases with a single provider or with a small number of
providers. The trend to consolidate
staffing services purchases has in some cases made it more difficult for us to
obtain or retain business.
Price competition in the staffing industry
continues to be intense, and pricing pressures from both competitors and
customers could adversely impact our financial decisions.
We expect the level of competition to remain high in
the future, and competitive pricing pressures will continue to make it
difficult for us to raise our prices to immediately and fully offset increased
costs of doing business, including increased labor costs, costs for workers
compensation and, domestically, state unemployment insurance. If we are not able to effectively compete in
our targeted markets, our operating margins and other financial results will be
harmed and the price of our securities could decline. We also face the risk that our current or
prospective customers may decide to provide services internally.
We have had significant turnover in our management
team and further loss of any of our key personnel could harm our business.
On May 1, 2007, our former Chief Executive Officer
resigned from the Company and was replaced by Michael T. Willis. On June 29, 2007, our Chief Financial Officer
resigned from the company. We hired a
new Chief Financial Officer, Dawn M. Jaffray, effective August 7, 2007. Our VP of Information Services, Eric Person,
resigned on January 25, 2008. We
currently have an interim Chief Information Officer with industry experience
and are searching for a full time replacement.
Our future financial performance is significantly
impacted by our ability to attract, motivate and retain key management
personnel and other members of the senior management team.
26
Competition for qualified management personnel is
intense and in the event that we experience turnover in senior management
positions, we cannot assure that we will be able to recruit suitable
replacements on a timely basis. We must
also successfully integrate all new management and other key positions within
our organization to achieve our operating objectives. Even if we are successful, turnover in key
management positions could temporarily harm our financial performance and
results of operations until the new management becomes familiar with our
business.
Failure to implement our new strategies could
impede our growth and result in significant added costs.
In fiscal 2007, we made significant changes to our
field structure and hired several new key executives late in such fiscal year to
seek to grow new business markets for the Company. Our failure to implement these new strategies
could impede our growth and result in significant added costs. Even if our new strategies are successfully
implemented, they may not have the favorable impact on our business and
operations that we anticipate.
Our principal stockholder, together with its
affiliates, controls a significant amount of our outstanding common stock thus
allowing them to exert significant influence on our management and affairs.
As of January 26, 2008, our principal stockholder,
DelStaff LLC (DelStaff), together with its affiliates, controls approximately
49.6% of the total outstanding shares of our common stock. The members of DelStaff are H.I.G. Staffing,
2007, Ltd., Alarian Associates, Inc. and Michael T. Willis. As our principal
stockholder, DelStaff and its affiliates have the ability to significantly
influence all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the
election of directors, and to exert significant influence over our management
and affairs. On April 30, 2007, we
entered into a Governance Agreement with DelStaff, Mr. Willis and Mr. Stover.
Pursuant to the terms of the Governance Agreement, on May 9, 2007, we expanded
the size of our Board of Directors from five to nine directors and appointed
the following DelStaff nominees to the Board: Michael T. Willis, John R. Black,
Michael R. Phillips, Gerald E. Wedren and John G. Ball. DelStaff also has the ability to strongly
influence any merger, consolidation, sale of substantially all of our assets or
other strategic decisions affecting us or the market value of the stock. This concentration of stock and voting power
could be used by DelStaff to delay or prevent an acquisition of Westaff or
other strategic action or result in strategic decisions that could negatively
impact the value and liquidity of our outstanding stock.
The amount of collateral that we are required to
maintain to support our workers compensation obligations could increase,
reducing the amount of capital that we have available to support and grow our
field operations.
We are contractually obligated to collateralize our
workers compensation obligations under our workers compensation program
through irrevocable letters of credit, surety bonds or cash. As of January 26, 2008, our aggregate
collateral requirements under these contracts have been secured through $27.3
million of letters of credit. Further,
our workers compensation program expires November 1, 2008, and as part of the
renewal, could be subject to an increase in collateral. These collateral requirements are significant
and place pressure on our liquidity and working capital capacity. We believe that our current sources of
liquidity are adequate to satisfy our immediate needs for these obligations;
however, our available sources of capital are limited. Depending on future changes in collateral
requirements, we could be required to seek additional sources of capital in the
future, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.
Our reserves for workers compensation claims may
be inadequate to cover our ultimate liability, and we may incur additional
charges if the actual amounts exceed the reserved amounts.
We maintain reserves to cover our estimated liabilities
for workers compensation claims based upon actuarial estimates of the future
cost of claims and related expenses which have been reported but not settled,
and that have been incurred but not yet reported. The determination of these reserves is based on
a number of factors, including current and historical claims activity, medical
cost trends and developments in existing claims. Reserves do not represent an exact
calculation of liability and are affected by both internal and external events,
such as adverse development on existing claims, changes in medical costs,
claims handling procedures, administrative costs, inflation, legal trends and
legislative changes. Reserves are
adjusted as necessary to reflect new claims and existing claims development, and
such adjustments are reflected in the results of the periods in which the
reserves are adjusted. While we believe
our judgments and estimates are adequate, if our reserves are insufficient to
cover our actual losses, an adjustment could be charged to expense that may be
material to our earnings.
Workers compensation costs for temporary employees
may continue to rise and reduce margins and require more liquidity.
In the United States, we
are responsible for and pay workers compensation costs for our regular and
temporary employees. In recent years,
these costs have risen substantially as a result of increased claims, general
economic conditions, increases in healthcare costs and governmental
regulations. In fiscal 2007, the
increase in the volume of claims has fallen despite an increase in our domestic
revenue, yet the increases in cost per claim have continued. Under our workers compensation insurance
program, we maintain per occurrence insurance, which only covers claims for a
particular event above a $500,000 deductible.
This deductible has been increased for our policy year ending November
1, 2008 to $750,000. Our workers
compensation insurance policy expires November 1, 2008 and we cannot guarantee
that we will be able to successfully renew such policy. Further, there are covenants associated with
the continuation of the policy and there can be no guarantee that we will
continue to meet those covenants going forward.
Should our workers compensation premium costs continue to increase in
the future, there can be no assurance that we will be able to increase the fees
charged to our customers to keep pace with increased costs or if we were unable
to obtain insurance on reasonable terms or forced to significantly increase our
deductible per claim, our results of operations, financial condition and
liquidity could be adversely affected.
27
Any significant economic downturn could result in
our customers using fewer staffing services, which could materially adversely
affect our business.
Demand for staffing services is significantly affected
by the general level of economic activity. There are indications that the economy is
currently softening, which we expect will continue to impact the demand for staffing
services and the Companys performance. As
economic activity slows, many customers reduce their utilization of temporary
employees before undertaking layoffs of their regular full-time employees. Further, demand for permanent placement
services also slows as the labor pool directly available to our customers
increases, making it easier for them to identify new employees directly. Typically, we may experience increased
pricing pressures from other staffing companies during periods of economic downturn,
which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.
Additionally, in geographic areas where we derive a significant amount of
business, a regional or localized economic downturn could adversely affect our
operating results and financial position.
We are exposed to credit risks on collections from
our customers due to, among other things, our assumption of the obligation to
make wage, tax, and regulatory payments to our temporary employees.
We are exposed to the credit risk of some of our
customers. Temporary personnel are
typically paid on a weekly basis while payments from customers are generally
received 30 to 60 days after billing. We
generally assume responsibility for and manage the risks associated with our
payroll obligations, including liability for payment of salaries and wages,
payroll taxes as well as group health insurance. These obligations are fixed and become a
liability of ours, whether or not the associated client to whom these employees
have been assigned makes payments required by our service agreement, which
exposes us to credit risks. We attempt
to mitigate these risks by billing on a frequent basis, which typically occurs
daily or weekly. In addition, we
establish an allowance for doubtful accounts for estimated losses resulting
from the inability of our customers to make required and timely payments. Further, we carefully monitor the timeliness
of our customers payments and impose strict credit standards. However, there can be no assurance that such
steps will be effective in reducing these risks. Finally, the majority of our accounts
receivable is used to secure our revolving credit facilities, which we rely on
for liquidity. If we fail to adequately
manage our credit risks associated with accounts receivable, our financial
position could be adversely impacted.
Additionally, to the extent that recent turmoil in the credit markets
makes it more difficult for some customers to obtain financing, those
customers ability to pay could be adversely impacted, which in turn could have
a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of
operations.
We derive a significant portion of our revenue from
franchise agent operations.
Franchise agent operations comprise a significant
portion of our revenue. Franchisees
represented 27.6% of gross receipts in the first quarter of fiscal 2008. In addition, our ten largest franchise agents
accounted for 18.6% of our revenue.
There can be no assurances that we will be able to attract new
franchisees or that we will be able to retain our existing franchisees. The loss of one or more of our franchise
agents and any associated loss of customers and sales could have a material
adverse effect on our results of operations.
We are subject to business risks associated with
international operations and fluctuating exchange rates.
We presently have operations in the United Kingdom,
Australia and New Zealand, which comprised 30.7% of our revenue for 12-week
period ended January 26, 2008.
Operations in foreign markets are inherently subject to certain risks,
including in particular:
differences in cultures and business practices;
overlapping or differing tax laws and regulations;
economic and political uncertainties;
differences in accounting and reporting requirements;
changing, complex or ambiguous foreign laws and
regulations, particularly as they relate to employment; and
litigation and claims.
All of our sales outside of the United States are
denominated in local currencies and, accordingly, we are subject to risks
associated with fluctuations in exchange rates, which could cause a reduction
in our profits. There can be no
assurance that any of these factors will not have a material adverse effect on
our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
Our success is impacted by our ability to attract
and retain qualified temporary and permanent candidates.
We compete with other staffing services to meet our
customers needs, and we must continuously attract reliable candidates to meet
the staffing requirements of our customers. Consequently, we must continuously
evaluate and upgrade our base of available qualified personnel to keep pace
with changing customer needs and emerging technologies. Furthermore, a substantial number of our
temporary employees during any given year will terminate their employment with
us and accept regular staff employment with our customers. Competition for individuals with proven
skills remains intense, and demand for these individuals is expected to remain
strong for the foreseeable future. There
can be no assurance that qualified candidates will continue to be available to
us in sufficient numbers and on acceptable terms to us. The failure to identify, recruit, train and
place candidates as well as retain qualified temporary employees over a long
period of time could materially adversely affect our business.
28
Our service agreements may be terminated on short
notice, leaving us vulnerable to loss of a significant amount of customers in a
short period of time.
Our service agreements are generally cancellable with
little or no notice by the customer to us. As a result, our customers can
terminate their agreement with us at any time, making us particularly
vulnerable to a significant decrease in revenue within a short period of time
that could be difficult to quickly replace.
The cost of unemployment insurance for temporary
employees may rise and reduce our margins.
In the United States, we are responsible for and pay
unemployment insurance premiums for our temporary and regular employees. At times, these costs have risen as a result
of increased claims, general economic conditions and government regulations. Should these costs continue to increase, there
can be no assurance that we will be able to increase the fees charged to our
customers in the future to keep pace with the increased costs, and if we do
not, our results of operations and liquidity could be adversely affected.
Our information technology systems are critical to
the operations of our business.
Our information management systems are essential for
data exchange and operational communications with branches spread across large
geographical distances. We have replaced
key component hardware and software including backup systems within the past
twelve months.
On November 12, 2007, we implemented a new accounts
receivable billing and temporary payroll system. The new system receives information from our
custom built front office system. We
experienced technical issues after the conversion that were not detected during
the testing phases. These issues
affected both the payroll and billing systems.
We believe that we have identified the significant issues and are
working to resolve those. These issues
were disruptive to our business and could affect customer and employee
relations. Additionally, these issues
required significant amount of management time that impacted our ability to
sell new services during the first quarter of fiscal 2008. Continued interruption, impairment or loss of
data integrity or malfunction of these systems could severely impact our
business, especially our ability to timely and accurately pay employees and
bill customers.
Our business is subject to extensive government
regulation, which may restrict the types of employment services that we are
permitted to offer or result in additional tax or other costs that adversely
affect our revenues and earnings.
We are in the business of employing people and placing
them in the workplace of other businesses on either a temporary or permanent
basis. As a result, we are subject to
extensive laws and regulations relating to employment. Changes in laws or government regulations may
result in prohibition or restriction of certain types of employment services we
are permitted to offer or the imposition of new or additional benefit,
licensing or tax requirements that could reduce our revenues and earnings. There can be no assurance that we will be
able to increase the fees charged to our customers in a timely manner and in a
sufficient amount to cover increased costs as a result of any changes in laws
or government regulations. Any future
changes in laws or government regulations may make it more difficult or
expensive for us to provide staffing services and could have a material adverse
effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
We may be exposed to employment-related claims and
costs that could materially adversely affect our business.
The risks related to engaging in our business include
but are not limited to:
claims by our placed personnel of discrimination and
harassment directed at them, including claims arising from the actions of our
customers;
workers compensation claims and other similar claims;
violations of wage and hour laws and requirements;
claims of misconduct, including criminal activity or
negligence on the part of our placed personnel;
claims by our customers relating to actions by our
placed personnel, including property damage and personal injury, misuse of
proprietary information and misappropriation of assets or other similar claims;
and
immigration related claims.
In addition, some or all of these claims may give rise
to litigation, which could be time-consuming to our management team, and
therefore, could have a negative effect on our business, financial conditions
and results of operations. In some instances, we have agreed to indemnify our
customers against some or all of these types of liabilities. We have policies and guidelines in place to
help reduce our exposure to these risks and have purchased insurance policies
against certain risks in amounts that we currently believe to be adequate. However, there can be no assurance that our
insurance will be sufficient in amount or scope to cover these types of
liabilities or that we will be able to secure insurance coverage for such risks
on affordable terms. Furthermore, there
can be no assurance that we will not experience these issues in the future or
that they could have a material adverse effect on our business.
29
The market for our stock may be limited, and the
stock price may continue to be extremely volatile.
The average daily trading volume for our common stock
on the NASDAQ Global Market was approximately 15,000 shares during the first
quarter of fiscal 2008. Accordingly, the
market price of our common stock is subject to significant fluctuations that
have been, and may continue to be, exaggerated because an active trading market
has not developed for our common stock. We believe that the price of our common
stock has also been negatively affected by the fact that our common stock is
thinly traded and also due to the absence of analyst coverage. The lack of analyst reports about our stock
may make it difficult for potential investors to make decisions about whether
to purchase our stock and may make it less likely that investors will purchase
the stock, thus further depressing the stock price. These negative factors may make it difficult
for stockholders to sell our common stock, which may result in losses for
investors.
The compliance costs associated with Section 404 and
other requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 regarding internal control
over financial reporting could be substantial, while failure to achieve and
maintain compliance could have an adverse effect on our stock price.
Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of
2002 and current SEC regulations, beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the fiscal year ending November 1, 2008, we are required to furnish a
report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting. We are currently required to have our auditor
attest to managements assessment on our internal control over financial
reporting beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year
ending October 31, 2009. However, on
February 1, 2008, the SEC proposed a one-year extension to the auditor
attestation requirement, which, if adopted, would require us to first comply
with this requirement beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ending October 30, 2010. The
process of fully documenting and testing our internal control procedures in
order to satisfy these requirements will result in increased general and
administrative expenses and may shift management time and attention from business
activities to compliance activities. Furthermore, during the course of our
internal control testing, we may identify deficiencies which we may not be able
to remediate in time to meet the reporting deadline under Section 404. Failure to achieve and maintain an effective
internal control environment or complete our Section 404 certifications could
have a material adverse effect on our stock price.
We are involved in an action taken by the
California Employment Development Department.
During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005, we were
notified by the California Employment Development Department, or EDD, that our
domestic operating subsidiaries unemployment tax rates would be increased
retroactively for both calendar years 2005 and 2004, which would result in
additional unemployment taxes of approximately $0.9 million, together with
interest at applicable statutory rates.
We have timely appealed the ruling by the EDD and are working with our
outside counsel to resolve this matter. Although we believe that we have
properly calculated our unemployment insurance tax and are in compliance with
all applicable laws and regulations, there can be no assurances this will be
settled in our favor.
We have significant amounts of assets on our
balance sheet for which their realization is dependent on our future profitability.
As of January 26, 2008 we have deferred tax assets of
$22.4 million and goodwill and intangible assets of $16.3 million. Under U.S. GAAP, we are required to evaluate
the realizability of the deferred tax assets based on our ability to generate
future taxable income. Similarly, we are
required to periodically compare the
carrying value of our goodwill and intangible assets to their estimated fair
value to support the current recorded amounts.
The estimated fair value will be influenced by our future
profitability. If we are unable to
return to our historical levels of profitability, we may need to write off a
portion or all of these assets which would result in a reduction of our assets,
stockholders equity and adversely affect our operating results.
We are a defendant in a variety of litigation and
other actions from time to time, which may have a material adverse effect on
our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are regularly involved in a variety of litigation
arising out of our business and, in recent years, have paid significant amounts
as a result of adverse arbitration awards.
We do not have insurance for some of these claims, and there can be no
assurance that the insurance coverage we have will cover all claims that may be
asserted against us. Should the ultimate
judgments or settlements not be covered by insurance or exceed our insurance
coverage, they could have a material adverse effect on our results of
operations, financial position and cash flows.
There can also be no assurance that we will be able to obtain appropriate
and sufficient types or levels of insurance in the future or that adequate
replacement policies will be available on acceptable terms, if at all.
Improper disclosure of employee and customer data
could result in liability and harm to our reputation.
Our business involves the use, storage and
transmission of information about our employees and their customers. It is possible that our security controls
over personal data and other practices we and our third party service providers
follow may not prevent the improper access to or disclosure of personally
identifiable information. Such
disclosure could harm our reputation and subject us to liability under our
contracts and laws that protect personal data, resulting in increased costs or
loss of revenue. Further, data privacy
is subject to frequently changing rules and regulations. Our failure to adhere to or successfully
implement processes in response to changing regulatory requirements in this
area could result in legal liability or impairment to our reputation in the
marketplace.
30
Item 2.
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
Not
applicable
.
Item 3.
Defaults Upon Senior Securities
Not
applicable
.
Item 4.
Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
None
.
Item 5.
Other Information
No
events
.
Item 6. Exhibits
Set forth below is a list of the exhibits included as part of this
Quarterly Report:
31.1
|
|
Certification of the Chief Executive Officer
pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
|
31.2
|
|
Certification of the Chief Financial Officer
pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
|
32.1
|
|
Certification of the Chief Executive Officer
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350 as Adopted Pursuant to
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
|
32.2
|
|
Certification of the Chief Financial Officer
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350 as Adopted Pursuant to
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
|
31
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has
duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto
duly authorized.
|
|
WESTAFF, INC.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 11, 2008
|
|
/s/ Dawn M. Jaffray
|
|
Date
|
|
Dawn M. Jaffray
|
|
|
|
Senior Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer
|
|
32
EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit No.
|
|
Description of Document
|
|
31.1
|
|
Certification of the Chief Executive Officer
pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
|
|
|
|
|
|
31.2
|
|
Certification of the Chief Financial Officer
pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
|
|
|
|
|
|
32.1
|
|
Certification of the Chief Executive Officer
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350 as Adopted Pursuant to
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
|
|
|
|
|
|
32.2
|
|
Certification of the Chief Financial Officer
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350 as Adopted Pursuant to
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
|
|
33
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