PORTLAND, Ore. - January 18, 2006 - The signing of 14 deals in its fourth quarter, mid-market growth and the introduction of a tailored product for healthcare equated to significant 2005 business momentum for Unicru, Inc. The company closed the year GAAP profitable with a total contracted backlog over $96 million. Unicru has now assessed over 45 million job applications for job fit and predicted performance in its clients´ organizations. Last year alone, almost 900,000 hires were made via Unicru´s system.
In the last quarter of 2005, Unicru signed major multi-year contracts with industry-leading companies including Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us, the leading specialty toy and baby retailers in the world, PetSmart Inc., the leading pet supply retailer; CarMax, Inc. (NYSE: KMX), the nation's largest retailer of used cars; and Les Schwab Tire Centers, one of the largest independent tire companies in the U.S. Earlier in the year, The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) renewed its contract for Unicru services through 2007, expanding its Unicru deployment from two regions to all 17 retail divisions including its entire grocery suite of 20 banners. A multi-year contract was also renewed with Big Y Foods.
Unicru customers currently account for 21 of the top 100 retailers and four of the top 10 specialty retailers, as identified by STORES magazine. In the retail industry alone, candidates applying via Unicru nearly doubled to over 11 million with over 700,000 hires.
2005 also signified Unicru´s successful entry into the mid-market. Leveraging product refinements and best practices gleaned from its experience with clients now numbering over 100, Unicru´s affordable, configurable and easily deployed product offering enables mid-sized companies with smaller budgets to achieve the same operational improvements and business results realized by Unicru´s larger clients. New clients include Caribou Coffee Company, Tully´s Coffee Corporation, The Holland Inc., parent company of Burgerville restaurants, Lifestyle Family Fitness and Towne Park, Ltd.
Unicru also successfully gained traction in the healthcare industry, which is riddled by a shortage of labor and high turnover, by tailoring its hiring management system to meet the demands of long-term care facilities, home care providers and hospitals. In 2005 Unicru signed multi-year contracts with Tuality Healthcare, Marquis Companies, Evergreen Healthcare and Accolade Healthcare.
In addition, 2005 reflected the following achievements:
- Launched HirePortTM, the only low-cost, portable job application device on the market
- Expanded assessment products to include the Safety Performance Assessment and the Frontline Reliability Assessment, a next-generation tool designed to significantly reduce employee delinquency and early quits
- Delivered its service with an exceptional 99.96% availability
- Forged partnerships with Hcareers, dominant job board for the hospitality, restaurant, and retail industries; and Workbrain (TSX:WB), provider of scheduling, time and attendance and workforce analytics solutions
- Hired healthcare executive Donna Moore as its VP and General Manager of Healthcare
- Achieved record attendance at the company´s Annual Executive Summit and National Users Conference
"What we accomplished in the fourth quarter by closing out the year with 14 deals represents a payoff in the strategies and investments we made early in the year to expand our leadership in our core markets and extend our capabilities to serve mid-sized businesses," said Chris Marsh, president and CEO. "The signing of these accounts further validates that forward-thinking businesses continue to see the value in partnering with Unicru to harness operational efficiencies and workforce quality improvements to drive business results. We´re looking forward to continuing this momentum in 2006."
Unicru also received the following industry accolades in 2005:
- AlwaysOnTM - TOP 100 Private Company award winner
- Integrated Solutions For Retailers magazine - Small To Midsize Retail Solutions Award finalist in the category of Best In-Store System
- Fastest Growing Private 100 Award winner in Oregon
- Oregon Entrepreneur Forum award finalist in the category of "Growth Company"
- Entrepreneurs Foundation of the Northwest 2005 Community Involvement Award finalist
About Unicru Inc.
Unicru is the leading provider of talent management solutions focused on improving workforce quality and productivity within the nation´s leading employers. Deep industry expertise, extensive client experience and knowledge gleaned from nearly 50 million job applicants combine for a proven solution that integrates hiring automation, employee selection programs and performance measurement to drive measurable business results. Unicru is currently deployed in more than 25,000 locations nationwide for over 100 leading companies and brands, including Albertsons, Toys "R" Us, PetSmart, Best Buy, Uno´s Restaurants and Burgerville restaurants. For more information, visit www.unicru.com