Revenue during the quarter went down marginally by 0.02 percent to $200.46 million from $200.49 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 143 basis points over the previous year period to 48.01 percent. Total expenses were 93.95 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 90.45 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 350 basis points in operating margin to 6.05 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $12.13 million, compared with $19.15 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $40.99 million compared with $43.70 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin contracted 134 basis points in the quarter to 20.45 percent from 21.79 percent in the last year period.

"We delivered a solid quarter across a number of important performance metrics," said Robert Musslewhite, chairman and chief executive officer of The Advisory Board Company, "and we continued to make important improvements to the operations and organization of our business in accordance with the strategy we outlined at the beginning of the year. We were especially pleased to have recorded over $1.25 billion in documented value delivered to our members, putting us on track to exceed our annual target of $1.5 billion. While our revenue came in at the low end of our guidance range, importantly, our scalable business model and capital deployment continue to drive profit growth faster than revenue on a year-to-date basis."

For financial year 2016, The Advisory Board Company projects revenue to be in the range of $817 million to $819 million. The company forecasts diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $1.83 to $1.86 on adjusted basis.

Cash flow from investing activities was $9.42 million for the nine month period as against cash outgo of $777.45 million in the last year period.

The company has spent $82.62 million cash to carry out financing activities during the nine month period as against cash inflow of $653.03 million in the last year period.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $55.09 million as on Sep. 30, 2016, down 1.76 percent or $0.99 million from $56.08 million on Sep. 30, 2015.

Working capital remains almost stable
Working capital of The Advisory Board Company remained almost stable for the quarter at negative $16.61 million, when compared with the previous year period. Current ratio was at 0.98 as on Sep. 30, 2016, down from 0.98 on Sep. 30, 2015.

Days sales outstanding went up to 281 days for the quarter compared with 277 days for the same period last year.