Dealership marketing company AutoWeb posted a smaller loss in the fourth quarter and for all of 2020.
The Tampa, Fla., company on Thursday reported a net loss of $937,000 in the quarter, compared with a net loss of $3.2 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
Quarterly revenue fell 35 percent to $17.3 million, attributed to a drop in leads and clicks, as well as continued negative impact from the coronavirus pandemic, the company said. AutoWeb said it scaled back expenses, including lower marketing outlays.
“While we continued to purposefully manage revenue down during the fourth quarter to address market impacts from COVID-19, we generated a 6 percent increase in gross profit, marking our strongest [fourth quarter] since 2017,” AutoWeb CEO Jared Rowe said in a statement. “We believe our proven and disciplined operating model, coupled with our unique and exciting strategic plan, has us well-positioned for the year ahead.”
Shares of AutoWeb closed down 0.7 percent at $2.93 on Friday.
For the full year, AutoWeb reported a net loss of $6.8 million, compared with a net loss of $15.2 million in 2019. Revenue fell 33 percent, which the company said mostly was because of the pandemic’s effects.
AutoWeb said Thursday in a regulatory filing that the $1.4 million Paycheck Protection Program loan it received in April was forgiven in full in January. The company last year had advised investors that it may have had to repay the loan under federal guidance requiring certification of economic need.
