Ecometry Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2001 Results
DELRAY BEACH, Fla.--Feb. 6, 2002--Ecometry(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:ECOM), a provider of integrated software solutions for multi-channel commerce, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2001.
Fourth Quarter Results
Revenues for the fourth quarter were $5.7 million, a decrease of $2.6 million, or 31.2%, from $8.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2000. The decrease was related to the continuing economic slowdown, which has resulted in a lower demand for Ecometry`s products and services. New customer sales decreased 28.4% from $1.2 million for the three months ended December 31, 2000 to $862,000 for the same period in 2001. Sales to existing customers decreased 62.1%, from $3.4 million for the three months ended December 31, 2000 to $1.3 million for the same period in 2001.
Net loss for the fourth quarter was $2.6 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $1.2 million or $0.10 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2000. General and administrative expense was $2.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2001 compared to $2.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2000. The decrease was primarily due to the sale and disposal of the Company`s subsidiaries, offset by expenses associated with the Company`s proposed merger with SG Merger Corp. Sales and marketing expense during the quarter ended December 31, 2001 decreased from $2.0 million to $1.0 million for the same period last year due to lower costs for salaries, public relations, sales commissions, trade shows and advertising. Research and development expense for the fourth quarter of 2001 was $1.2 million compared to $1.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2000. The increase was primarily due to the Company`s continuing investments in new products and operating system platforms. The Company expects to continue making these investments in future periods. Also contributing to the loss was a charge of $514,000 relating to the sale and disposal of the Company`s three subsidiaries.
Year-End Results
Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2001 was $26.3 million, a decrease of $19.4 million, or 42.4% from the year ended December 31, 2000. Net loss for the year was $7.3 million, or $0.59 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $1.6 million, or $0.13 per diluted share from the year ended December 31, 2000.
John Marrah, Ecometry Corporation president said: "Cost cutting measures and careful monitoring of our expenses have allowed us to remain a financially strong company as we have made and continue to make the investments in our products. Our entire company is focused on the NT and Unix versions of Ecometry Retail Enterprise, running in an open systems n-tier environment. These products have the same robust functionality of our MPE based version."
Fourth Quarter Highlights
During the fourth quarter, the Company completed development of its software for the NT and Unix platforms. Ecometry`s New N-tier architecture utilizes COM objects and is based on relational databases, such as Oracle.
The Company continued development of its Full View Functionality (FVF) interfaces and announced availability of FVF for its Point of Sale (POS) module, in addition to FVF for Order Entry and Customer Service, which was released earlier in 2001.
On October 25, 2001, the Company entered into a merger agreement with SG Merger Corp. to acquire all of the Company`s outstanding shares for $2.70 per share in cash. SG Merger Corp. is a corporation newly formed by Wilburn W. Smith, the Company`s Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Vice President - Sales, and Allan J. Gardner, a director and the Company`s Chief Technology Officer, for the sole purpose of effecting the merger. Subsequently on January 25, 2002, the Company entered into a merger agreement with Citrus Merger Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Syngistix, Inc., whereby, subject to certain conditions, Syngistix, Inc. will purchase all of the Company`s outstanding shares for $2.90 per share in cash. The Company`s existing merger agreement with SG Merger Corp. has been amended, but not terminated, in order to induce Syngistix, Inc. to make the offer. If the merger agreement with Syngistix, Inc. is terminated, the merger agreement between the Company and SG Merger Corp. would remain in effect.
About Ecometry Corporation
Ecometry is a provider of multi-channel commerce solutions worldwide. The Ecometry family of products ensures customer satisfaction throughout the multi-channel shopping and buying experience. Its flagship product, Ecometry Retail Enterprise (R), is a customer-centric, high volume suite of business applications designed to completely automate front-end and back-end operations across multiple channels. It enables retailers to acquire, retain and manage customers, suppliers and partners from one centralized database. Headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, Ecometry`s client roster includes industry-leading retailers such as Nordstrom, Time Life, Brookstone, Zales, Hickory Farms, Levenger, KBKids.com, Nine West, Coldwater Creek, Hallmark, Urban Outfitters and RedEnvelope.com.
Safe Harbor
This news release may contain forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release which are not strictly historical statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial performance, management`s plans and objectives for future operations, product plans and performance, management`s assessment of market factors, as well as statements regarding the strategy and plans of the Company, constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, risks associated with the Company`s business, including the following risks: the unpredictability of revenues due to large dollar amounts of the Company`s individual license transactions and the lengthy and unpredictable sales cycles for these transactions; the Company`s dependence on the development, introduction and client acceptance of new and enhanced versions of the Ecometry software products; the ability to control costs, the Company`s dependence on new product development; uncertainties regarding the outcome of pending class action litigation against the Company; the Company`s reliance on a combination of trade secrets, copyright and trademark law, nondisclosure agreements and technical measures to protect its proprietary technology; the Company`s ability to sell its products in new markets within the direct commerce industry; the Company`s dependence on proprietary technology licensed from third parties; the Company`s ability to continue to resell a variety of hardware and software developed and manufactured by third parties; the Company`s ability to maintain margins on the sale of hardware and software developed and manufactured by third parties; significant competition in the software and direct commerce industry and competitive pricing for the Company`s products; customer concentration; fluctuations in demand for the Company`s products which are dependent upon the condition of the software and direct commerce industries; the Company`s ability to collect receivables; and other risks and uncertainties described in the Company`s prospectus dated January 29, 1999, Forms 10-K and 10-Q and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the announcements described herein.
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