Emil Hensel
Analyst · BMO Capital Markets
First, I will go over the results for the second quarter and then review our revenue and earnings guidance for the third quarter that we provided in the press release issued last evening.
Revenue in the second quarter was $126 million essentially flat versus both the prior year and prior quarter. Our nurse and allied staffing and other human capital management services segment registered declines which were offset by low to mid single digit revenue increases in our Physician Staffing and Clinical Trial Services segments, both on a year-over-year and sequential basis.
Our gross profit margin was 25.2% down 220 basis points from the prior year and 130 basis points sequentially. Higher insurance expenses reduced our second quarter gross profit margin by approximately 100 basis points year-over-year and 85 basis points sequentially.
The bill pay spread in our Nurse and Allied Staffing Business contracted due to changes in geographic mix that typically would have been offset by corresponding reduction in housing expenses which did not occur due to inflation in apartment rental cost nationally.
Also contributing to the margin decrease were shifts in the mix of business in our Physician Staffing and Clinical Trial Services segment and a smaller relative contribution from our other Human Capital Management Services segment which has the highest gross profit margin among all of our businesses.
SG&A for the quarter was $30.7 million, up 4% from the prior year, but down 1% sequentially. Included in the SG&A expense is an additional accrual related to non-income tax matters of approximately $0.5 million based on revised estimates of probable settlements and expected state non-income tax audit assessment and additional estimates for current year activity. We are working with tax professional advisers and state authorities to resolve these liabilities.
Excluding the state non-income tax adjustments related to prior periods, the SG&A expense as a percentage of revenue was up 70 basis points year-over-year, reflecting investments we have made during 2011 in our MSP delivery infrastructure. Because some of these MSP accounts are developing more slowly than we originally expected, we will bring our overhead structure more in line with our near-term revenue.
Additionally, SG&A expenses in the second quarter included approximately $700,000 in equity based compensation expenses as compared to approximately $800,000 in the prior year quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA margin as defined in our press release was 1.2% as compared to 4.9% in the prior year quarter and 2.4% in the first quarter.
Interest expense of approximately $580,000 was down 20% from the prior year quarter and 7% sequentially as we further delever our balance sheet. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we entered into a new 5 year $75 million credit agreement consisting of a $50 million revolving credit facility and a $25 million term loan to replace our previous credit facility which was scheduled to expire in 2013.
The rates in the new facility are based on leverage ratios and will initially bear interest at 200 basis points over LIBOR with no LIBOR floor. Net loss in the second quarter was $14.5 million or $0.47 per diluted shares which included a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $18.7 million pre-tax related to our Nurse and Allied Staffing business.
As disclosed in our 2011 10-K and first quarter 2012 10-Q, we had previously determined that we had a strong[ph] margin between book value and fair market value in several our reporting segments. During the second quarter, we concluded that the book value of our Nurse and Allied Segment exceeded its fair market value resulting in the aforementioned impairment charge.
This impairment was triggered by the further decline in our stock price during the second quarter along with slower than expected booking momentum and reduced contribution income in the second quarter of 2012 which lowered the anticipated growth trend used for impairment testing.
The adjusted net loss excluding the impairment charge, a non-GAAP measure, was $0.08 while the GAAP basis effective tax rate was 30.4% in the second quarter. The income tax benefit related to the impairment charge was $6.7 million representing a 35.8% tax rate. Because the impairment charge was tax affected at a higher rate than the GAAP basis effective tax rate, it resulted in an anomalous negative tax rate under pre-impairment pre-tax loss.
This incremental tax expense contributed to the non-GAAP adjusted EPS excluding the impairment charge. The effective tax rate for the second half of 2012 is expected to be in the mid-20% range. As a reminder, we currently have deferred tax assets which include federal net operating loss carry forwards of approximately $20.8 million which based on current projections we expect to fully utilize over the coming years.
Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $36.2 million of debt and $6.2 million of cash and cash equivalents. Net of cash or debt to total capital ratio was 11.1% and the current ratio was 2.9:1. Day sales outstanding were 53 days unchanged from the prior quarter but up 3 days from the prior year.
As defined in our new credit agreement, our leverage ratio was just under 2:1 and our fixed charge coverage ratio was 2.1:1. We generated $2.4 million of cash from operating activities in the second quarter. The excess cash supplemented with cash on the balance sheet was used to repay $3.5 million of debt during the quarter and to fund approximately $1.2 million of capital expenditures.
Let me drill down next into our four reporting segments. We averaged 2,427 field FTEs in the second quarter down 1% versus both the prior year and prior quarter. Segment revenue in the second quarter was $67.6 million down 1% versus the prior year and 3% sequentially. Revenue per FTE per day was up slightly over the prior year due to a 1.6% increase in the average bill rates partly offset by lower average hours per FTE. On a sequential basis, the average revenue per FTE per day was down 1.7% due to lower average bill rates.
The book-to-bill ratio averaged 99% in the second quarter and is averaging a 112% so far in the third quarter. Open orders for contract risk position postings increased approximately 40% from the low point in mid-February to the end of June and are up 20% since then so far in the third quarter.
Segment contribution income as defined in our press release was $2.2 million in the second quarter representing a 3.3% contribution margin, down 500 basis points from the prior year and 250 basis points sequentially. The margin decline was due to a combination of higher insurance costs reflecting unfavorable accrual adjustments for field health insurance and workers' compensation, higher SG&A expenses including a $260,000 accrual for state run income tax liabilities relating to prior years and a decrease in the bill pay spread due to changes in geographic mix.
Normally, we would expect to see an offset to the impact of geographic mix on the bill pay spread from lower housing expenses, but this is not the case currently due to the strong headwind from rising apartment rental costs.
Let me turn next to our Physician Staffing segment, revenue was $30.9 million in the second quarter up 1% from the prior year and 6% sequentially. Physician staffing days filled went down 1% from the prior but up 4% sequentially. The increase in revenue was driven by higher staffing volumes of emergency medicine physicians and hospitalists along with higher average revenue per day filled.
Segment contribution income for the second quarter was $2.7 million representing an 8.7% contribution margin down 80 basis points from prior year but up 50 basis points sequentially. The year-over-year margin decline is due primarily to higher physician expenses and the change in business mix.
The sequential margin increase is due to improved operating leverage. Revenue in our Clinical Trial Services segment in the second quarter was $17.4 million up 6% from the prior year and 3% sequentially. Contract staffing and functional outsourcing accounted for 94% of segment's revenue in the second quarter. Contribution income was $1.6 million, a slight increase from the prior year and up 18% from the prior quarter which included an approximately $300,000 adjustment for prior period sales tax liabilities.
So contribution income margin was 9% in the second quarter a decrease of 40 basis points from the prior year quarter primarily due to higher insurance expenses for field staff partially offset by improved operating leverage.
Sequentially, contribution income improved 120 basis points due to the reduced impact of estimated state non-income tax accruals.
Revenue for the other Human Capital Management Services segment in the second quarter was $10.3 million, down 4% from the prior year and 7% sequentially due to a combination of lower seminar attendance in our education business and lower sales volume in our retained search business following strong performance in the first quarter.
Contribution income was approximately $300,000, representing a 2.7% contribution margin, down 620 basis points from prior year and 740 basis points sequentially due to negative operating leverage.
This brings me to our guidance for the third quarter of 2012. The following statements are based on current management expectations. Such statements are forward-looking and actual results may differ materially. These statements do not include the potential impact of any future mergers, acquisitions or other business combinations, impairment charges or valuation allowances, write-off of debt issuance costs or any material legal proceedings.
We project the average nurse and allied field FTE account to be in the 2,425 to 2,475 range in the third quarter. Consolidated revenue for the third quarter is expected to be in the $126 million to $129 million range.
We expect our gross profit margin to be approximately 26% and adjusted EBITDA margin to be in the 2.5% to 3% range. Net interest expense is expected to be approximately $400,000 in the third quarter. Based on these assumptions, earnings per diluted share are expected to be in the $0.01 to $0.03 range. This EPS guidance range is based on an estimated effective tax rate of approximately 15% in the third quarter. This concludes our formal comments.
At this time, we are going to open up the lines to answer any questions that you may have. Tanya?