Earnings roundup: Digex narrows losses
Digex, Inc. (Nasdaq: DIGX) said Thursday its fourth quarter loss was 36 cents a share, narrower than First Call's expected loss of 40 cents a share.
Shares in the Web and application hosting service provider closed at 83 13/16 Thursday, having risen on a cash injection from Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Compaq (NYSE: CPQ) earlier this month.
Net loss for the quarter was $22.4 million, or 36 cents a share, much wider than the $4.3 million, or 9 cents a share lost in 1998's comparable quarter. Net loss for the year was $65 million, or $1.31 a share
Revenue grew to $21.7 million from $7.8 million for the same period last year. In 1999, revenue increased to $59.8 million from $22.6 million in 1998. Servers managed in Digex's data centers increased to 2,311 in fourth quarter 1999 from 1,048 servers in the same period last year.
"Our growth continues to be driven by the needs of enterprises, dot.coms and application service providers (ASPs) for proven, well-engineered platforms to quickly bring their e-business to market and to grow rapidly," said president and CEO Mark Shull in a press release.
In other earnings news Thursday:
Shares closed at 33 11/16 Wednesday.
Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2000 increased 94 percent to $6.3 million compared with revenue of $3.3 million the third quarter of 1999.
Net loss of $799,000, or 6 cents a share, compared to a net loss of $218,000, or 4 cents a share, in 1999's comparable quarter. The net loss in the third quarter was due primarily to non-cash goodwill and software amortization of about $566,000 from the company's purchase of SolCom Systems and certain assets of LeeMAH DataCom Security Corp. completed in the fourth quarter of 1999. The growth of its sales and marketing personnel from 7 to 12, and an investment of about $1.4 million in research and development also contributed to losses, the company said.
Notable new customers acquired in the third quarter include Reuters, Siemens, Sycamore Networks, the Social Security Administration, Ericsson, and Bank of America.
Shares in the UK-based company closed at 21 3/4.
Sales in the quarter ended December 31 rose 15 percent from the third quarter and 274 percent from a year earlier to $9.28 million.
Losses before tax of $3.46 million compared with a third quarter loss of $2.42 million and a profit of $132,000 a year ago. The company also said 1999's loss per share of 52 cents was less than the 62 cents expected by the market. Sales were 55 percent above expectations It did not state the source of the forecasts.
Ebookers said its eight acquisitions during the year made it the European leader in online travel. It competes with American companies such as Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) and Microsoft's Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE).
"This strategy, which continues to move ahead of schedule and within budget, further develops our negotiated and discounted fare relationships with major airlines, hotel and car hire companies,'' Chief Executive Dinesh Dhamija said in a statement.
Baan said its fourth quarter loss was $1.06 a share, much wider than the loss of 13 cents a share First Call had originally forecast.
Shares closed at 7 Wednesday.
Revenue for the fourth quarter was up 9 percent to $143 million, compared to $131 million in the fourth quarter 1998. The net loss for the fourth quarter compared to a net loss of $295 million, or $1.45 per diluted share in the fourth quarter 1998.
A strategic reorganization will lower the company's ongoing cost structure by up to $25 million per quarter, the company said. Baan added that it was encouraged by the record number of license transactions recorded during the fourth quarter, the first sequential increase in quarterly license revenue during 1999, and higher cash and marketable securities balances.
Reuters contributed to this report.