Catalina Reports Record Rise in Profits, Revenue : Earnings: In its first year as a public company, the Anaheim marketing firm, which has coupon machines in 5,609 supermarkets, had fiscal year profit of $8.2 million.

By CHRIS WOODYARD

May 5, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

ANAHEIM —

Catalina Marketing Corp., which makes electronic coupon sales incentives, reported record profits and revenue Tuesday during its first year as a publicly traded company.

The Anaheim company, which plans to move to Florida, had fiscal year profit of $8.2 million, or 81 cents a share, after taking a onetime charge of $3.9 million to cover the headquarters relocation. The earnings after that charge represent a 71% increase over earnings of $4.8 million, or 51 cents a share, last year.

Revenue for the fiscal year ended March 31 was $71.9 million, a 39% increase over $51.7 million the previous year.

“Catalina’s first year as a public company was a productive and successful one,” said Chairman Tommy Greer. “We produced record sales and earnings and continued the strong expansion of the Catalina Marketing network.”

The company’s products are installed in 5,609 supermarkets across the country, reaching about 72.5 million shoppers a week. More than 75% of those stores are situated east of the Mississippi River, so Catalina said it decided to move to the Tampa Bay area of Florida to be closer to them.

Catalina, so named because its creators hatched the idea on a trip to the island, makes machines that analyze a consumer’s purchases and produces instant, computer-generated coupons for complementary products that can be cashed in on future visits. A related venture, Catalina Information Resources, will sell the data it learns about customers’ product preferences to food producers and other marketers.

In the fourth quarter, Catalina had net income of $1.2 million, or 12 cents a share, after setting aside $2.6 million of the relocation charge. That is down 16% from $1.4 million, or 15 cents a share, earned in the fourth quarter of last fiscal year. Revenue was $18.7 million, up 22% from $15.4 million.

Catalina shares closed at $36.625, up $1.375 in NASDAQ trading Tuesday.