Internet audio and video broadcaster Broadcast.com Inc said Thursday it has signed a deal to acquire NetRoadshow, a move which broadens the company’s portfolio of online financial services. The news came on the same day the company reported better-than expected fourth-quarter results. Atlanta-based NetRoadshow provides a variety of services to produce financial road shows, conferences and presentations for investment banks on the internet. Under the terms of the agreement, Broadcast.com will issue shares of its common stock valued at approximately $50m. The transaction is intended to be accounted for as a pooling of interests and should close during the first quarter. NetRoadshow’s services include IPO and secondary equity offerings, convertible and debt road shows, investor conferences and other company presentations. It has deals in place with nearly all of North America’s major financial institutions, something which Broadcast.com says will expand its broadcasting services to newly public companies. Separately, Broadcast.com reported a smaller-than-expected for its fiscal fourth quarter. The company posted a loss of $5.2m, against a loss of $2.2m in the year-ago period. Excluding a $1.5m acquisition charge from the purchase of Simple Network Communications Inc in November, the loss was $3.7m, or $0.21 per share, when analysts surveyed by First Call were expecting a loss of $0.25. Revenue for the quarter more than doubled to $7.6m from $3.2m last year. For the year, net loss was $16.4m on revenue up 145% at $22.3m, against a loss of $6.7m last year.
