Brio sliced in half by 1Q losses

Shares in Brio Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: BRIO) were cut in half Friday after the company said it missed revenue and earnings targets for the first quarter. The company said $5 million in deals were delayed on the last day of the quarter

The maker of B2B analytic software was down 9 3/4 to 10 1/16, a fraction of their 52-week high of 64 1/2. The stock also took a tumble in February when it was downgraded following a merger with privately held Sqribe Technologies.

Brio's competitors include Business Objects (Nasdaq: BOBJ), Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN) and Hyperion Solutions (Nasdaq: HYSL), according to Hoover's Online.

Net loss for the quarter ended June 30, was $4.5 million or a loss of 16 cents per share. First Call was expecting a profit of 8 cents a share.

Including the effect of the non-recurring operating expenses, the net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2000, was $1.5 million, or a loss of 7 cents per share.

In the same period a year ago, Brio lost $401,000, or 2 cents a share, excluding charges. The company lost 7 cents a share including charges.

Revenue for the first quarter was be $33 million, an increase over the $27.6 million reported in the comparable fiscal 2000 quarter.

"While the first quarter of our fiscal year is historically our toughest, we did not anticipate this shortfall of revenue or earnings," said president and CEO Yorgen Edholm in a release.

The company said that the $5 million of forecasted large deals which were delayed during the last day of the quarter, will be closed in the coming quarters. As large deployments are becoming the norm for Brio's products, the company said it takes longer to evaluate and close deals.

The company said it will soon announce the addition of a COO who will assume responsibility for sales, services and support, along with other organizational changes.