DATE: Saturday, October 25, 1997            TAG: 9710250399

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   33 lines

METRO INFORMATION SERVICES REPORTS RECORD THIRD QUARTER

Metro Information Services reported record operating income, earnings and revenue for its fiscal third quarter ended Sept. 30.

Virginia Beach-based Metro sold stock to the public for the first time in January, and has since used the $34.2 million proceeds of that stock sale to open several offices and acquire smaller companies.

Metro's third quarter net income rose to $2.7 million, or 18 cents a share, from $1.4 million, or 11 cents a share, a 90 percent increase, the company said. Third quarter revenue rose to $40.6 million from $29.1 million, a 39.2 percent increase.

The company's operating income margin was 10.6 percent in the third quarter, compared with 8.3 percent a year ago, the company said.

Metro's staff of 1,900 provides information technology consulting and software development services in the United States and Puerto Rico. President and CEO John Fain said the company's client/server services and its consulting on the Year 2000 computer glitch were particularly in demand.

``We experienced better than expected operating income results from our acquisitions of Data Systems Technology and DP Career Associates completed July 1, 1997,'' Fain said.

Those two acquisitions and Metro's hiring of more than 360 consultants during the first nine months of its fiscal year paved the way for improvements in its operating results, the company said.

Metro exceeded even its own hiring target in the third quarter, said Bob Eveleigh, Metro's chief financial officer. Through its system, Metro hired and trained 129 consultants in the third quarter, when it had expected to hire 90.

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