Youth Services International Inc., the Owings Mills operator of facilities for juvenile offenders, rebounded from the sale of its former core business last year to report first-quarter income of $1.1 million, or 11 cents per share.
The profit for the quarter ended March 31 is a 159.4 percent increase over the $424,000 made last year in YSI's continuing business, which includes its juvenile justice programs.
Taking its former core business into account, YSI lost $21.4 million in the quarter.
Revenue for the first quarter rose to $20.8 million, a 20.2 percent increase from $17.3 million on a pro forma basis for the first quarter of 1997.
With the former core business operations, YSI had revenue of $27.3 million for the first quarter of 1997.
Last year, YSI withdrew from the behavioral health business, essentially treatment facilities for troubled youth.
Insurance cutbacks and a dwindling number of patients made the business unprofitable, the company said. Since then, YSI has sold seven such operations.
The company has since concentrated on juvenile justice programs where youths have been sentenced to facilities.
"We met our analysts' expectations, and that's always positive," said Kimberly Nichols, YSI's vice president of finance and investor relations.
"By selling our behavioral health business, we alleviated the company from some pressure and now we can focus on growing our core business," Nichols said.
YSI attributed the revenue increase to the opening of five programs, three of them in Florida and one each in Tennessee and Delaware.
The population at YSI's 20 residential facilities was 1,911 as of the end of the quarter, as compared with a population of 1,819 as of March 31, 1997. YSI is licensed to have a population of 2,169.
YSI, which was founded in 1992, operates several boot camps across the country and also provides after-care at several of its locations. It has 22 programs in 12 states.
In Maryland, YSI manages the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School and the Victor Cullen Academy.
Shares in YSI fell 25 cents to close at $18.625 yesterday.
Pub Date: 4/28/98
