UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
| x | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended January 01, 2005
OR
| ¨ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from to
Commission file number 1-3246
ProQuest Company
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| Delaware | 36-3580106 | |
| (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
| 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan | 48103-1553 | |
| (Address of Principal Executive Offices) | (Zip Code) |
Registrants telephone number, including area code: (734) 761-4700
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class |
Name of each exchange on which registered | |
| common stock, $.001 par value per share | New York Stock Exchange |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No ¨
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrants knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ¨
Indicate by checkmark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes x No ¨
The aggregate market value of the Registrants voting stock held by non-affiliates (based upon the per share closing price of $27.19 on July 3, 2004) was approximately $556 million.
The number of shares of the Registrants common stock, $.001 par value, outstanding as of March 11, 2005 was 29,735,582.
Documents Incorporated By Reference
(1) Portions of the Registrants Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement related to the 2005 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, to be filed subsequent to the date hereof pursuant to Schedule 14A - Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GLOSSARY
| ABI / Inform |
Abstracted Business Information - PQILs premier business information database | |
| AMT |
Alternative Minimum Tax | |
| APB |
Accounting Principles Board - The predecessor to the FASB. | |
| APB Opinion No. 25 |
Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees | |
| APSP |
Automotive Parts and Service Products | |
| ASPP |
Associate Stock Purchase Plan | |
| Bigchalk |
Bigchalk, Inc. | |
| CCP2 |
Courier Custom Publishing | |
| Credit Agreement |
Revolving Credit Agreement | |
| DMS |
Dealer Management System | |
| eDn |
Electronic Distribution Networks | |
| EEBO |
Early English Books Online | |
| EITF |
Emerging Issues Task Force - A task force developed to assist the FASB in improving financial reporting. | |
| EITF 00-21 |
Revenue Arrangements with Multiple Deliverables | |
| EPC |
Electronic Parts Catalog | |
| FASB |
Financial Accounting Standards Board - The designated organization in the private sector for establishing standards of financial accounting and reporting. | |
| FIFO |
First-in, first-out | |
| FIN 46 |
FASB Interpretation No. 46 - Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities | |
| FIN 46-R |
FASB Interpretation No. 46 - Revised | |
| K-12 |
Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade | |
| LIBOR |
London Interbank Offered Rates | |
| Locks |
Treasury Rate Locks | |
| MCW |
MotorcycleWorld.com, Inc. | |
| Micromedia |
Micromedia, Ltd. | |
| MMT |
Mail and Messaging Technologies | |
| MSN |
MicroSoft Network | |
| NRP |
Norman Ross Publishing | |
| OEC |
OEConnection | |
| OEM |
Original Equipment Manufacturer | |
| Option Plan |
2003 ProQuest Strategic Performance Plan | |
| PQBS |
ProQuest Business Solutions | |
| PQIL |
ProQuest Information and Learning | |
| PSP |
Parts and Service Products | |
| SAB |
Staff Accounting Bulletin - Staff Accounting Bulletins reflect the Securities and Exchange Commission staffs views regarding accounting-related disclosure practices. | |
GLOSSARY
| SAB No. 101 |
Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements | |
| SAB No. 104 |
Revenue Recognition | |
| SEC |
Securities and Exchange Commission | |
| SFAS |
Statement of Financial Accounting Standards - A statement promulgated by the FASB that sets forth the actual standards, the effective date, method of transition and the information regarding technical financial accounting and reporting issues. | |
| SFAS No. 86 |
Accounting for Costs of Computer Software to be Sold, Leased or Otherwise Marketed | |
| SFAS No. 123 |
Accounting for Stock Based Compensation | |
| SFAS No. 123R |
Share-Based Payment - a revision to SFAS No. 123 | |
| SFAS No. 131 |
Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information | |
| SFAS No. 132 |
Employers' Disclosures about Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits - an amendment to FASB Statements No. 87, 88, and 106 | |
| SFAS No. 133 |
Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities | |
| SFAS No. 138 |
Accounting for Certain Derivative Instruments and Certain Hedging Activities - an amendment to SFAS No. 133 | |
| SFAS No. 141 |
Business Combinations | |
| SFAS No. 142 |
Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets | |
| SFAS No. 151 |
Inventory Costs - an amendment to ARB No. 43, Chapter 4 | |
| SIRS |
SIRS Publishing, Inc. | |
| SOP |
Statement of Position - issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants | |
| SOP 97-2 |
Software Revenue Recognition | |
| SOP 98-1 |
Accounting for the Costs of Computer Software Developed or Obtained for Internal Use | |
| U.S. |
United States | |
| U.K. |
United Kingdom | |
| URL |
Uniform Resource Locator (internet address) | |
Part I
ProQuest Company
| Item 1. | Business. |
ProQuest Company is a leading publisher of solutions for the education, automotive and power equipment markets. We have more than 50 years of experience in information, content development, and aggregation. Our predecessor company, Bell & Howell Company, was known for creative, technology-based solutions. It was incorporated in Delaware in 1907. In 2001, we sold our legacy Imaging, Mail and Messaging Technologies and finance-related businesses and changed our name to ProQuest Company.
We provide products and services to our customers through two business segments: ProQuest Information and Learning and ProQuest Business Solutions. Financial information for each of our business segments and operations by geographic area is contained in Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements which is incorporated herein by reference. An overview of our two business segments follows.
ProQuest Information and Learning.
Overview PQIL
We are a leading provider of content to schools, academic institutions, and public libraries worldwide. Our products are found in over 8,000 university and college libraries worldwide and in many cases the content cannot be obtained from any other source besides the original publisher. Our business is based upon long-term relationships with our content suppliers, some of which span more than 50 years. These relationships enable us to develop our unique information capabilities and have resulted in high market penetration of our products in the markets that we serve. PQIL has licensing arrangements with over 9,000 publishers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The Economist, Time Inc., University of California Press, Fairfax Publishing, and McGraw Hill. We have written agreements with substantially all of our content suppliers. More recently, we have been able to successfully extend many of our relationships to include various forms of electronic media, despite strong competition from other providers. We have leveraged many relationships to enter into unique or preferred content arrangements. For example, our agreement with The New York Times Company provides that we are the exclusive distributor in the education market for digital vault page images of The New York Times in electronic form. Our relationship with John Wiley & Sons has given us content that is not available in other aggregated databases.
Through our own distinct methods, we convert information to microfilm and electronic form and add value to this information through our professionally prepared proprietary abstracts and
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indices. The result is an expansive information vault that includes content from over 18,000 periodical titles and 7,000 newspaper titles, as well as a unique content collection consisting of approximately two million dissertations, 150,000 out-of-print books, 550 research collections, and over 15 million proprietary abstracts.
Along with this expansive information vault, we provide proprietary tools that assist the user in finding the right content. Our ProQuest interface assists users in the navigation of our databases and obtaining productive results by incorporating features such as contextual help, simple search-building tips, intuitive icons, and dropdown menus.
Our information vault covers all major areas of study including business, humanities, social science, math and science, medical/health, ethnic and diversity studies, genealogy, psychology, biology, and current events. Our content is primarily in English, but we also have content in 40 other languages including German, Latin, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Spanish.
PQIL primarily serves the education market. Our products are present in most academic research libraries around the world. Our library customers generally sign a one year subscription contract to access our proprietary database or receive microform updates. In 2004, PQIL generated 41.4% of sales from published products, 22.4% of sales from general reference products, 31.5% of sales from traditional products, and 4.7% of sales from classroom products. Over the last three years, we have experienced renewal rates of approximately 85% to 90%. In 2004, PQIL represented approximately 63% of our total sales.
Product Review PQIL
Published Products.
Topic specific products. We provide users with comprehensive databases in our flagship areas of business and economics and the arts and humanities.
Our premier business product is ABI/Inform. This was our first published product and it continues to be a leading resource for universities around the world with full text coverage of more than 1,800 of the worlds business journals. The rich indexing and proprietary article abstracts created by PQIL have led to this products installation in 45 of the top 50 business schools in the U.S. as well as 30 of the top 46 business schools in Asia and 23 of the top 42 business schools in Europe.
In the arts and humanities, our Chadwyck-Healey products have particular strengths in language and literature, history, music, performing arts and film, and news and reference, pertaining to the U.S., the U.K., the European Union, and Asia.
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Publications range from databases of medieval texts in Latin and Greek to up-to-the-minute reference resources such as KnowUK, an online reference service on the people, places, and institutions that make up life in the U.K.
Other humanities titles include services such as Literature Online and History Online, both of which deliver a combination of primary works and extensive contextual support.
Digital Vault Initiative. In an initiative started in 1998, we selected portions of our microfilm collection to digitize and created products such as EEBO, Historical Newspapers, and Digital Sanborn Maps.
EEBO is a digital compilation of the majority of the content existing in the English language developed from 1475-1700, which comprises more than 125,000 works.
Historical Newspapers, one of the largest product development efforts in our history, is an initiative which began in 2000 to digitize several of the nations leading newspapers including The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times from their first issues to the late 20th Century. To date, we have digitized and released The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor as well as a part of the Los Angeles Times. We have already sold approximately 2,000 subscriptions for these products.
Digital Sanborn Maps provide electronic maps that contain detailed property and land-use records that depict such information as building outline, size and shape, construction materials, height, windows and doors, and house numbers in more than 12,000 U.S. towns and cities from 1867-1970.
Digital Vault Initiative products also include digital compilations of the Gerritsen Collection of Womens History and the American Periodical Series, which features content from over 1,000 magazine and other periodical titles from 1741-1900.
SIRS Products. SIRS Products include SIRS Discoverer®, SIRS Interactive Citizenship®, and SIRS Researcher®. SIRS Discoverer includes full-text articles and images from over 1,600 domestic and international newspapers, magazines, and government documents for students in grades 1 to 9. SIRS Interactive Citizenship is an online program that helps users learn about every facet of government and the philosophies and concepts underlying world affairs and economics. SIRS Researcher is a highly-acclaimed age appropriate general reference database containing full-text articles exploring social, scientific, health, historic, business, economic, political, and global issues.
Digital Dissertations. PQIL is the recognized publisher and repository for dissertations and masters theses. ProQuest Digital
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Dissertations provides electronic access to over 455,000 titles from our vast collection.
Serials Solutions. Our products provide e-journal management and access solutions for academic, public, government, and corporate libraries around the world. These tools provide customers with accurate, complete, and current information about their e-journal holdings, along with the means to easily link to full-text content. Our products are in 1,300 libraries worldwide.
General Reference Products.
Higher Education. Introduced in 1995, ProQuest online products allow users to search and find useful information from more than 6,000 periodicals, newspapers and other resources originating after 1985. Our products help librarians build information bridges that enable users to quickly locate resources appropriate to their needs. These products combine easy-to-use search menus, current information content in a variety of formats, convenient delivery options, and support. We provide the tools to efficiently create predefined searches, electronic reserve rooms for multiple simultaneous users, digital magazine racks, reading rooms, and table-of-content services. The quality indexing we create ensures unparalleled accuracy and specificity, which allows the users searches to be more successful. All online text is customizable and allows easy integration with our customers other information holdings. Our proprietary engine helps librarians by providing easy-to-use templates, copy-and-paste technology and step-by-step help. Librarians can link selected ProQuest online content to their online catalogs, library websites and other web-based resources.
K-12. K-12 products include eLibrary®, Bigchalk Library and Bigchalk Multimedia, which are general reference products for the K-12 market segment and include full-text articles, maps, pictures, web links and audio and video clips.
Reseller. PQIL provides electronic content to premier information companies such as Factiva and LexisNexis, which resell the content to corporate desktop customers. Under written agreements with these companies, we generally receive revenue based on the amount of ProQuest content accessed by their customers.
Traditional Products.
Microfilm Products. We sell microform newspaper and periodical subscriptions, microform newspaper and periodical backfiles, out-of-print books, phonefiche, and scholarly research collections. Today, our microform vault is one of the largest commercial archives in the world. Newspapers, magazines and journals are marketed as complete microfilm sets of both publishers and authors. In addition, we create abstracts and indices of business, general interest and science and humanities articles. There has been less demand for these products as electronic products become more popular. Despite the growth of electronic products, we believe that there is
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still demand for our microfilm products because microfilm products may be the only source of out-of-print information, are a less expensive alternative for storing content and are considered a more permanent archival medium than online access.
Paper Products. Copies of our dissertations and many of the newspaper and dissertation indices sold through our microfilm products are available in paper format. We also offer over 150,000 out-of-print books in paper format on a print-on-demand basis. Copies of the more than two million doctoral dissertations in our archive are the most common product delivered in paper format. PQIL is the recognized repository for dissertations and masters theses and the designated digital archive for the Library of Congress, having begun publishing titles in 1938. We provide worldwide access to two million citations, of which more than 1.7 million are available in full text. ProQuest publishes over 55,000 new titles each year from over 700 institutions.
Classroom Products.
Our classroom products include custom online and print course materials and textbook supplements as well as more comprehensive study aids. These products are in more than 1,100 universities throughout the U.S.
XanEdu®. XanEdu products further leverage our content through the development of supplemental curriculum materials for the college classroom. XanEdu products provide premium online content targeted directly at students and faculty of higher education institutions. XanEdu products have been adopted in over 1,100 of the 4,000 educational institutions in the U.S. Nearly 14,000 coursepack titles were produced during 2004.
Our XanEdu coursepack products include customizable products and textbook supplements from our vast archive of copyright-cleared content. Our copyright clearance services offer a streamlined solution for clearing content not currently found in our vast archive of XanEdu products. We offer instructors a turnkey solution to building XanEdu coursepacks, with the ultimate choice of distribution either online, in print, or a combination of the two. We have relationships with major textbook publishers, Pearson and John Wiley & Sons, to create online supplemental materials that expand and enrich the publishers textbook.
ProQuest Business Solutions.
Overview - PQBS
PQBS is the global leader in the development and deployment of parts and service information products and dealer performance applications for the automotive market. We pioneered the EPC in 1985. In the years since then, we have added features and functions to the EPC such that our product is no longer merely just an EPC. Our APSP offer information on more automobile brands than
5
similar products from any other provider, and provide a powerful and flexible technical reference system using CD-ROM and web-based technology. Over 31,000 automobile dealerships now use our APSP worldwide. We currently publish APSP for approximately 32 automobile brands manufactured by General Motors, Ford Motor Company, DaimlerChrysler, Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus, Hyundai, Kia, Isuzu, Lotus, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Saturn, Subaru, Suzuki, and Volvo, among others. Our continued ability to access data from these OEMs is required for us to continue to publish these products. Our customers typically sign two to five year contracts.
We also provide automobile OEMs and their dealerships with management information systems that monitor and evaluate dealer performance in areas such as product inventory, pricing, territory, margins and OEM support.
In addition to the Automobile market we provide PSP to the Power Equipment and Powersports markets, including brands manufactured by John Deere, Stihl, Alamo, Ingersoll Rand, Tecumseh, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Honda, among others.
We have various flexible business arrangements to suit the requirements of our customers. For example, we have exclusive provider arrangements with certain OEMs and for other OEMs we provide individual contracts to their franchised dealerships.
PQBS sells primarily to the automotive and power equipment markets. In 2004, PQBS generated 94.5% of sales from automotive products, 4.8% of sales from power equipment electronic products, and 0.7% of sales from other products. In 2004, PQBS represented approximately 37% of our total sales.
Product Review PQBS
Automotive Products.
Automotive Parts and Service Products. For over 20 years, we have been developing customized market-leading APSP solutions for the automotive dealer. We create and market turnkey solutions in 17 languages that allow automotive dealerships to electronically access manufacturers proprietary technical documentation (such as parts catalogs, parts and service bulletins and other reference materials) and to interface with other important information systems (such as inventory management and billing) within the dealership. These applications help dealers improve business processes by transforming complex technical data into answers. Everyday, manufacturers of 32 automobile brands and over 31,000 automotive dealerships worldwide utilize our products.
Performance Management Products. We offer management information systems to both OEMs and their dealerships in the automotive industry. We collect, manage, and publish statistics on dealer performance such as product inventory, pricing, territory, margins, and OEM support and use this content to produce our
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performance management products. These products monitor and evaluate a dealers performance against the dealers historical operations as well as the dealer market in general and run diagnostics of essential dealer metrics to identify underperforming areas of a dealers business. Other products help develop hypothetical and actual business plans and projections for a dealer based on current conditions in the dealer market. We provide performance management products for more than 33 brands for approximately 28,000 dealers worldwide.
Power Equipment Products.
Power Equipment Products. Our power equipment unit provides PSP to motorcycle, marine, recreational vehicle, lawn & garden and heavy equipment OEMs and their dealers. These systems include parts and service information including ordering and warranty applications. We also design, develop, and distribute software systems that automate product, e-commerce, and corporate support functions between manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and their customers in the power equipment market.
Strategic Alliance.
OEConnection. OEC is a joint venture among PQBS, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and DaimlerChrysler. OEC extends the established EPC business by providing dealers and their wholesale customers a comprehensive, secure e-commerce portal. OEC has established and maintains this portal with the primary objective of facilitating the sale of original equipment automotive parts delivered through the franchised automotive dealership channel. OECs current product offerings include D2DLink which is an advanced parts locator system and CollisionLink, which allows the dealer to extend sales to their wholesale customers, primarily collision shops. Eventually, OEC expects to expand its customer base to include dealers, collision shops, installers, and fleet facilities.
Business Review.
Research and Development. We continually seek to take advantage of new product and technology opportunities and view product development to be essential to maintaining and growing our market position. We have approximately 175 people at PQIL and approximately 100 people at PQBS on our research and development and software engineering staffs. Our research and development expenditures include expenses primarily for database development and information delivery systems and is primarily company sponsored.
Sales & Marketing. PQIL and PQBS employ separate sales forces both domestically and internationally. Our published products, general reference products and traditional products are generally sold directly to libraries. Classroom products are marketed to higher education institutions and professors to encourage the use
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of XanEdu coursepacks in the classroom curricula but are sold to students via bookstores and online.
Within our PQIL North American sales force, we have dedicated sales representatives for each major product type: traditional (14 salespeople), published and general reference (39 salespeople), classroom (18 salespeople) and K-12 (30 salespeople) for a total of 101 salespeople. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, we use a direct international sales force comprised of 55 sales representatives who sell the full portfolio of products to markets across the globe. We augment this direct sales force with third party international distributors. We use a variety of approaches to market our products, including trade shows, direct mailings, product brochures, and online product trials.
Within our PQBS sales force, we sell automotive and power equipment products both domestically and internationally through an internal sales force of 76 salespeople. We market our products and services to two targeted groups: OEMs and individual dealership locations. To effectively reach the large OEMs, such as General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company, and Toyota, we have strategically deployed a team of business development professionals in the worlds principal automotive centers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan. In the U.S. and Canada, automotive and power equipment products and services are sold directly to individual dealerships using an experienced sales force (40 salespeople). We also utilize Reynolds and Reynolds as a distributor to supplement the efforts of our direct sales force.
Proprietary Rights
We regard certain of our technologies and content as proprietary and rely primarily on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, and employee non-disclosure agreements to protect our rights. There can be no assurance that the steps we have taken will be adequate to protect our rights. Although we do not believe that we have infringed on the proprietary rights of third parties, there is no assurance that a third party will not make a contrary claim. The cost of responding to such an assertion may be material, whether or not the assertion is valid.
We also license from third parties certain technology upon which we rely to deliver our products and services to our customers. This technology may not continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Moreover, we may face claims from persons who claim that their licensed technologies infringe upon or violate those persons proprietary rights. These types of claims, regardless of the outcome, may be costly to defend and may divert our managements efforts and resources.
We obtain most of the information and content used in our products from license agreements with third parties. These licenses are generally limited in scope and are nonexclusive. If these licenses are not renewed or are renewed on terms adverse to us, our business could be materially adversely affected.
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Licenses for content used in our PQIL segment generally have automatic renewal terms unless terminated by us or the third party publishers. At PQIL, we have written agreements with substantially all of our content suppliers. In addition, we have been able to successfully extend many of our relationships to include various forms of electronic media, despite strong competition from other providers of electronic media. For example, our agreement with The New York Times Company provides that we are the exclusive distributor in the education market for digital vault page images of The New York Times in electronic form. Our licenses with automotive and power equipment manufacturers that are used in our PQBS segment generally have a term of up to five years with automatic renewal terms ranging from one to three years. Generally, the licensors also have agreed to provide content so that we can satisfy customer agreements that extend beyond the term of the license agreement. These licenses allow us to use the content in many media formats including electronic, microform or paper.
ProQuest®, XanEdu®, SIRS Discoverer®, SIRS Interactive Citizenship®, SIRS Researcher®, eLibrary®, Bigchalk Library, Bigchalk Multimedia, and ProQuest EConnect are our trademarks. Each trademark, trade name, or service mark of any other company appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K belongs to its holder.
Seasonality
Our quarterly operating results fluctuate due to a number of factors including the sales cycle, the amount and timing of new products, and our spending patterns. In addition, our customers experience cyclical funding issues that can impact our revenue patterns. Historically, we have experienced our lowest net sales, earnings and cash flow in the first fiscal quarter with our highest net sales and earnings in the fourth fiscal quarter. Due to this seasonality, we maintain a Credit Agreement to fund interim cash requirements. See Note 12 to our Consolidated Financial Statements which is incorporated herein by reference.
Competition
The market for our products and services is highly competitive. In our PQIL segment, our main competitors are Gale Group, a division of Thomson Corporation, and EBSCO Publishing, a division of EBSCO Industries. For distribution of dissertations, we compete with universities. PQIL competitors also include free Internet sites such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN, newspaper and book publishers, educational software publishers, and electronic commerce providers. Furthermore, our print classroom products compete with small print shops. Barriers to entering the education market, especially the online component, are relatively low, and we expect competition in this market to intensify.
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In our PQBS segment, we compete with Universal Computer Systems Inc., Lexcom GmbH, Infomedia Ltd., Enigma, and the proprietary electronic parts systems of certain OEMs such as DaimlerChrysler and Honda Motor Company.
Many of our current and potential future competitors may have substantially greater financial resources, name recognition, experience, and larger customer bases than we do. Accordingly, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly to new technologies and changes in customer requirements, have more favorable access to suppliers and devote greater resources to the development and sale of their products. Any of the above results could adversely affect our ability to attract and retain customers and harm our business.
Government Regulations
We are subject to various federal, state, local, and foreign environmental laws and regulations limiting the discharge, storage, handling, and disposal of a variety of substances. Our operations are also governed by laws and regulations relating to equal employment opportunity, workplace safety, and worker health, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations hereunder. We believe that we are in compliance in all material respects with applicable laws and regulations and that future compliance will not have a material adverse effect upon our consolidated operations or financial condition.
Due to the increasing usage of the Internet, federal and state governments may adopt laws or regulations regarding commercial online services, the Internet, user privacy, intellectual property rights, content regulation, and taxation. Laws and regulations directly applicable to online commerce or Internet communications are becoming more prevalent and could expose us to substantial liability. For example, certain U.S. laws, such as the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act and various federal laws aimed at protecting children and limiting the content made available to them could expose us to substantial liability. Furthermore, various proposals at the federal, state, and local level could impose additional taxes on Internet sales. These laws, regulations, and proposals could decrease Internet commerce and other Internet uses and adversely affect the success of our online products.
Concentration Risk
We are not dependent upon any one customer or a few customers, the loss of which would have a material adverse effect on our business. In fiscal 2004, no single customer represented more than 5% of our consolidated net sales. Our top five customers accounted for approximately 12% of consolidated net sales in fiscal 2004.
Employees
Our future success is substantially dependent on the performance of our management team and our ability to attract and retain qualified technical and managerial personnel.
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As of January 1, 2005, we had the following number of employees, broken out by segment:
| Employees | ||
| PQIL |
1,616 | |
| PQBS |
755 | |
| Corporate |
43 | |
| Total |
2,414 | |
None of our employees are represented by collective bargaining agreements.
Website Access to Company Reports
We make available free of charge through our website, www.proquestcompany.com, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practical after such material is electronically filed with the SEC.
We are providing the address to our website solely for the information of our investors. Our website and the information contained therein or incorporated therein are not intended to be incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a code of ethics for all of our employees in finance, including our Chief Financial Officer as well as our Chief Executive Officer. We adopted this code to promote such standards as (1) honest and ethical conduct; (2) full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable disclosure in our periodic reports; and (3) compliance with applicable governmental rules and regulations.
Also, in January 2004, we implemented a whistleblower reporting tool, as required under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, by engaging a third party service that provides anonymous reporting for serious workplace ethical issues via phone and/or the Internet. Further information will be set forth in the Companys Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement (under the caption Corporate Governance).
| Item 2. | Properties. |
Our principal executive and administrative office is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The following table provides certain summary information in square feet with respect to the facilities that we own or lease in connection with our businesses:
| PQIL |
PQBS |
Corporate |
Total | |||||
| Owned |
159,000 | 90,944 | 12,000 | 261,944 | ||||
| Leased |
376,430 | 168,242 | | 544,672 | ||||
| Total |
535,430 | 259,186 | 12,000 | 806,616 | ||||
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All of the facilities that we own are in the U.S. We lease facilities primarily in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. We believe that the termination of any one of the leases, some of which are long-term, would not significantly affect our operations.
We believe the buildings, machinery and equipment used in our operations (whether owned or leased) generally to be in good condition and adequate for our current needs and that additional space will be available as needed.
Late in 2004, we entered into a lease agreement for new facilities for Corporate and ProQuest Information and Learning in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We expect to occupy approximately 28,000 square feet starting in 2005 and an additional 110,000 square feet starting in 2006. We anticipate that we will vacate an equivalent amount of square footage of currently occupied space as part of our move to these new facilities.
| Item 3. | Legal Proceedings. |
We are involved in various legal proceedings incidental to our business. Management believes that the outcome of such proceedings will not have a material adverse effect upon our consolidated operations or financial condition.
| Item 4. | Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders. |
No matters were submitted to a vote of Shareholders during the fourth quarter of our fiscal year ended January 1, 2005.
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Directors and Executive Officers
The following table provides information about our directors and executive officers as of March 11, 2005:
| Name |
Age |
Position at the Company | ||
| Board of Directors |
||||
| Alan W. Aldworth | 50 | Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer | ||
| Randy Best | 62 | Director | ||
| David G. Brown | 48 | Director | ||
| Michael Geltzeiler | 46 | Director | ||
| Todd S. Nelson | 45 | Director | ||
| William E. Oberndorf | 51 | Director | ||
| Linda G. Roberts | 63 | Director | ||
| James P. Roemer | 57 | Director | ||
| Gary L. Roubos | 68 | Director | ||
| Executive Committee (led by Alan Aldworth) | ||||
| Kevin G. Gregory | 41 | Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer | ||
| Todd W. Buchardt | 45 | Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary | ||
| Linda Longo-Kazanova | 52 | Senior Vice President, Human Resources | ||
| Bruce E. Rhoades | 56 | Senior Vice President, Strategy and Technology | ||
| Andrew H. Wyszkowski | 51 | President, ProQuest Business Solutions | ||
| Ronald Klausner | 51 | President, ProQuest Information and Learning | ||
The business experience and certain other information relating to each of our directors and executive officers are set forth below:
Board of Directors.
Alan W. Aldworth was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors in May 2004. Mr. Aldworth has been President and Chief Executive Officer since January 2003. In January 2002, Mr. Aldworth was elected as President and Chief Operating Officer and has been a Director since May 2001. Mr. Aldworth joined ProQuest Company as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in October 2000. Prior to joining ProQuest Company, he spent 18 years at Tribune Company where he held a variety of senior financial management and general management positions, the most recent of which was as the General Manager of Tribune Education Company. Mr. Aldworth is also a Director of Arbitron.
Randy Best was appointed to the Board of Directors of ProQuest Company in March 2005. Mr. Best also serves as a consultant to
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ProQuest Company. He is the co-founder, former Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Voyager Expanded Learning. Voyager developed the nations first patented comprehensive reading system and was acquired by ProQuest Company in January 2005. Mr. Best is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GlobalEd Holdings, Ltd. Mr. Best is an advisory board member for the Education Commission of the States, and a member of the National Education Association Foundation Board, the College of Education Foundation Advisory Council for the University of Texas at Austin, and the National Urban Alliance Board for Columbia University. He is also a benefactor of the Smithsonian Institution. Previously, he served on the White House Millennium Committee and The Foundation Leadership Network.
David G. Brown was appointed to the Board of Directors in January 1994 and is Chairman of the Nominating and Governance Committee. He has been the Managing Partner of Oak Hill Venture Partners since August 1999 and a Principal in Arbor Investors LLC since August 1995, Chief Financial Officer of Keystone, Inc. from September 1998 to February 2000, and a Vice President of Keystone, Inc. since August 1993. Prior to joining Keystone, Mr. Brown was a Vice President in the Corporate Finance Department of Salomon Brothers Inc. from August 1985 to July 1993. He is a Director of eGain Communications, Perfect Commerce, Lattice Communications, MarketTools, and WOW Networks.
Michael S. Geltzeiler was appointed to the Board of Directors in September 2004 and serves on the Audit Committee. He is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Readers Digest Association, Inc., a position he has held since 2001. Prior to joining The Readers Digest, Mr. Geltzeiler, a certified public accountant, was with ACNielsen and Dun & Bradstreet (now known as D&B). Mr. Geltzeiler is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club and the Westchester County Association.
Todd S. Nelson was appointed to the Board of Directors in January 2004. He has been Chief Executive Officer of Apollo Group, Inc. since August 2001 and President since February 1998. Mr. Nelson joined Apollo Group in 1987 as Director of University of Phoenixs Utah campus, became Executive Vice President of the University of Phoenix in 1989, and became Vice President of Apollo Group, Inc. in 1994. Prior to joining Apollo Group, he was General Manager, from 1985 to 1987, at Amembal and Isom, a management training company. Mr. Nelson is also a Director of Apollo Group, Inc.
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William E. Oberndorf was appointed to the Board of Directors in July 1988. He is Chairman of the Compensation Committee in addition to serving on the Nominating and Governance Committee. Mr. Oberndorf has served as Managing Director of SPO Partners & Co. since March 1991. He is a Director for Rosewood Hotels and Resorts and Director Emeritus of Plum Creek Timber Company, Inc.
Linda G. Roberts was appointed to the Board of Directors in January 2004. Since leaving government in January 2001, Dr. Roberts has served as advisor, consultant, and board director in various organizations, including state and local governments, foundations, non-profit organizations, corporations, and start-up companies. Prior to that, Dr. Roberts directed the U.S. Department of Educations Office of Educational Technology from its inception in 1993 to 2001, and served as the Secretary of Educations Special Advisor on Technology. From 1984 to 1993, she led the research on educational technology at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. Dr. Roberts also served as an advisor to the Childrens Television Workshop during the development of Sesame Street and The Electric Company. Dr. Roberts is a Senior Advisor to Carnegie Learning, Inc., Classroom Connect, Apple Computer, and several leading technology companies. She is a Trustee of the Board of the Sesame Workshop, and a Trustee of the Education Development Corporation. Dr. Roberts is also a Director of Wireless Generation and Carnegie Learning, Inc.
James P. Roemer was appointed to the Board of Directors in February 1995. He served as Chairman of the Board from January 1998 until May 2004, as President of the Company (formerly Bell & Howell Company) from 1995 to 2001 and as Chief Executive Officer from 1997 until 2003. From 1995 to 1997, he also served as Chief Operating Officer of the Company. Prior to that, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of ProQuest Information and Learning Company from 1994 to 1995. Mr. Roemer joined Bell & Howell Company (now ProQuest Company) as President and Chief Operating Officer of Bell & Howell Publishing Services business (now ProQuest Business Solutions) in 1991. He was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer of that business in 1993. Prior to joining ProQuest Company, Mr. Roemer was President of the Michie Group, Mead Data Central from 1989 to 1991. From 1982 to 1989 he was Vice President and General Manager of Lexis. From 1981 to 1982, he served as acting President of Mead Data Central. Mr. Roemer is also a director of Advent Software.
Gary L. Roubos was appointed to the Board of Directors in February 1994. He is Chairman of the Audit Committee in addition to serving on the
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Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee. Mr. Roubos was Chairman of the Board of Dover Corporation from 1989 to 1998 and was President from 1977 to 1993. He is also a Director of Dover Corporation and Omnicom Group, Inc.
Frederick J. Schwab was appointed to the Board of Directors in September 2004. He was President and CEO of Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) from 1992 to 2003. He joined PCNA in 1985 as Executive Vice President of Finance & Administration and was appointed Senior Vice President in 1988. Prior to joining PCNA, Mr. Schwab, a certified public accountant, was with Fruehauf Corp. and Touche Ross & Company. Currently, Mr. Schwab serves on the Board of Michigan State Universitys Eli Broad College of Business, the National Board of Directors of the Hope Foundation, the Board of Trustees at the Atlanta International School, and the Board of Governors at the Ravinia Club. He also serves as a Director to Indus, International Inc. and Boyd Gaming Corporation.
Executive Committee (led by Alan Aldworth).
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