DANA POINT, CALIFORNIA -- Walter Forbes, chairman of embattled marketing and franchising concern Cendant, said on Monday he expected "great" earnings over the "next three or four quarters."
"We have had a stock meltdown, but the company has not melted down," he told attendees here at the Spotlight 98 conference. "In fact the company is in strong shape in every area, especially interactive."
Cendant -– a diversified marketing company with units that include Century 21 real estate, car renter Avis, and videogame publisher Sierra On-Line -- was formed two years ago from the merger of CUC International, Forbes' side of the business, with HFS, a franchising company. The company's stock collapsed in April after auditors discovered "accounting irregularities" that look like fraud.
Cendant (CD) now expects to restate financial results for the past three years. The company faces a class-action lawsuit for allegedly misrepresenting financial information and inflating its stock prices.
Forbes, who appeared ill-at-ease, didn't address the company's recent troubles. He would only say that the company's business model was fine and that certain units, including its marketing sites on America Online and Rent Net, were doing well. He declined to back up his claims with specific numbers.
Forbes didn't specify when the next revised earnings would be released.
