Informission Achieves 127 % Revenue Growth Company,
Completes Five Acquisitions in Q1 and Will Change Name to
nurun Inc.
APRIL 13, 2000
MONTREAL, CANADA--Informission Group Inc., a subsidiary of the
Quebecor Inc. group, released today its financial results for the
three-month period ended March 31, 2000, including results from
EntreVision, but only partial results from digIT Interactive and
Cythere, three companies acquired by Informission Group Inc. in
the first quarter of 2000.
Revenues for the three-month period ending March 31, 2000, reached
$22.5 million compared to $9.9 million for the same period last
year, a 127.2 % increase. Revenues from outside Canada reached
$8.8 million or 39.3 % of total revenues.
The gross margin in the first quarter of 2000 was 44.2 % compared
to 37.3 % for the first quarter of 1999. Earnings before
interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached 5.9 %
compared to 1.2 % for the same period last year. Net earnings
(before goodwill amortization) reached $683,000 or $0.02 per share
on a diluted basis.
"This is a landmark quarter for our company," said Jacques Malo,
the new President and CEO of Informission. "All growth indicators
show that we are on track to accomplish our business plan: above
average growth, improved gross margins, positive EBITDA and
continued international expansion."
nurun
At our annual shareholders' meeting today, we will also propose a
new name for our company, nurun, that reflects our tremendous
energy, diversity and our international presence in cities such as
Paris, New York, Boston and Chicago," said Jacques Malo.
"nurun's objective over the coming months is to continue our
international expansion, mainly in Europe and in the USA," added
Mr. Malo. "We will also make sure that nurun leverages its
capabilities in Web integration and automated publishing solutions
to serve specific industries. We intend to acquire companies with
a strong presence in specific markets where we believe strong
synergies can be developed with our solutions and our relationship
with Quebecor."
Recent Developments
In the last few months, Informission acquired four companies for
its Web integration and automated publishing activities:
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* Paris-based Cythere, France's leading Internet agency, which also
has an office in New York
* Toronto-based EntreVision, a leading Canadian Web integrator that
generates 60 % of its revenue from the United States, which also
has an office in Boston
* digIT Interactive, specialists in digital branding and marketing
channel management, which has offices in Ottawa and Toronto
* Chicago-based Flow Systems, a leading provider of catalog content
management and publishing solutions for manufacturers and
distributors
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The company has also established its telecommunications division
as a separate subsidiary named Mindready Solutions Inc. Mindready
will aggressively build its real-time and embedded systems
organization and has already acquired Beltron Technologies, a
company with activities in Canada, USA and UK.
/T/
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF EARNINGS
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The 1st quarter (3 months)
ended
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March 31st February 28th
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Unaudited
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2000 1999
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In thousands of dollars,
except earnings per share
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Revenues from operations $22,502 $9,906
Operating expenses
Cost of revenues 12,554 6,216
Selling and marketing 5,294 1,996
General and administrative 2,901 982
Research and development 427 593
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21,176 9,787
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Operating income (EBITDA) before: 1,326 119
Interest income (671) (350)
Loss on foreign exchange 281 63
Depreciation of fixed assets 613 213
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Earnings before income taxes and
amortization of goodwill 1,103 193
Income taxes 420 83
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Earnings before amortization
of goodwill 683 110
Amortization of goodwill 3,945 106
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NET LOSS (EARNINGS) $3,262 $(4)
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Earnings before amortization of
goodwill per share, basic
and fully diluted $0.02 $0.00
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Net loss per share, basic
and fully diluted $0.11 $0.00
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Weighted average number of
shares outstanding 29,646,694 13,487,853
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Fully diluted 30,798,854 14,020,464
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Informission Group Inc.
Informission Group Inc. (TSE: IFN), a subsidiary of Quebecor Inc.,
is an information technology company providing e-commerce, Web
integration and automated publishing solutions for corporate and
public sector clients in North America, Europe and select
locations around the world. Informission employs close to 1,000
professionals in its various offices in Montreal, Quebec, Toronto,
Ottawa, Seattle, New York, Boston, Chicago and Paris. |
