The largest income-tax filing company in the world, H&R Block Inc. (HRB) posted its third-quarter 2019 earnings on Mar. 7, before the bell.
Total revenue slipped 4.1% to $468.4 million for the quarter on lower assisted tax preparation revenues and royalties due to the delay in overall filings with the IRS. Pretax losses widened 31.3% to $158.7 million, despite the loss from continuing operations improving to 58 cents a share from $1.16 per share loss a year ago.
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Consolidated loss shrank to $0.62 a share from last year’s loss of $1.18 per share.
According to Zacks Research, the market expected revenue to slip 5.5% to $461 million, generating an estimated loss of 83 cents.
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In the three-month period, the company announced a cash dividend of $0.25 per share, payable on Apr.1, 2019 to shareholders of record as of Mar. 18, 2019.
H&R Block CEO Jeff Jones said, “the significant improvements we’ve made across our business have resulted in increased client satisfaction scores related to our new upfront and transparent pricing, third-party accolades for our DIY products, and growth in our virtual offerings so far this tax season.”