ZMAX Announces Post-Y2K Business Strategy And "WidePoint" As New Name
Company Also Plans Move to NASDAQ National Market System
GERMANTOWN, MD -- ZMAX Corporation (NASDAQ:ZMAX) today announced a further progression of its corporate strategy and its emphasis on providing leading-edge e-business solutions to middle-market companies.
"ZMAX has been steadily and successfully migrating from its past concentration and success in Year 2000 business to its current and continued profitability and growth as an information technology consulting firm," stated Michael C. Higgins, president and chief executive officer. "We recently completed an advancement of our corporate strategy, organization and operations, with the result being our focus on providing e-business consulting and solidifying a reputation for developing innovative, webcentric solutions. We plan to continue to build a national presence, with the goal of becoming the premier enabler of e-solutions to middle market companies."
The Company's primary concentration is on three core practices pertaining to the Internet: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and Internet Application Integration (IAI) services. With the acquisition of Eclipse Information Systems in December 1998 and Parker Management Consultants in October 1999, ZMAX advanced its skill sets in each of ERP and IAI services, and the Company plans to continue to expand these services both internally and through acquisitions. The Company also plans to continue to successfully transition its Year 2000 skills in legacy and commercial software applications into the EAI segment, with enterprise application integration targeted as an area of emphasis in its aggressive acquisition program.
"Our re-engineering legacy in Year 2000 work has given us a platform to begin providing enterprise application integration services to our existing high-profile customers," noted Higgins. "We believe this area offers enormous growth potential for our Company."
"This is a natural progression for our Company," he continued. "Our customers have been coming to us for e-transformation services since last year. Our background in legacy systems coupled with our internet development experience has proven to be a winning combination. In April, when we announced $1 million of e-business contracts, we said that e-business was a key element of our growth strategy. Now we're saying it is our strategy. This focus not only capitalizes on our strengths, but it also reflects the direction being actively pursued by every enterprise today of building web-based approaches to IT plans."
The New Name
The Company also announced that it would, effective as of January 1, 2000, commence the use of a new name through a wholly-owned subsidiary to emphasize the Company's continuing growth in e-business as it continues its migration away from its highly profitable Year 2000 work. The new name under which the Company will market and provide its e-business services will be the name of "WidePoint."
According to Higgins, "The name WidePoint not only projects our new direction, but it also makes a clear distinction between the company of the past and the company of the future. We needed a new corporate name that would combine our legacy company capabilities with the acquisitions we have made and plan to continue to make in the future."
"We selected the name WidePoint because it reflects our emphasis on enterprise-wide solutions pointed towards focused e-business applications," he adds.
In the Spring of 2000, the stockholders of the Company will be asked to vote upon and approve the change of the Company's name to WidePoint, at which time the Company will change its web address and its stock symbol (each of which has already been reserved by the Company), as well as institute a new corporate identity program to integrate the new name and logo into its written and electronic materials.
"The name change demonstrates the next phase of our infrastructure development," says Higgins. During the first part of this year, we centralized our finance and human resources activities in order to consolidate the Eclipse acquisition and prepare for the next acquisitions. Now, after the Parker acquisition, we are progressing into the next level of our infrastructure development, which includes the marketing and use of a new corporate identity, the continued consolidation of all our operations, and the development of a coordinated sales and marketing program in the e-business industry."
NASDAQ National Market System
According to James T. McCubbin, vice president and chief financial officer, the Company desires to take the necessary steps to move from the NASDAQ SmallCap Market to the NASDAQ National Market(r). "Our desire is to move to the NASDAQ National Market sometime in the second quarter of fiscal year 2000, subject only to the market price of our stock reaching the minimum levels required by NASDAQ National Market. We hope this will naturally occur next year after the market realizes that we have been successful in our migration from a Y2K service and software company to a fully integrated and very profitable IT service company. We continue to successfully reduce our Year 2000 emphasis and broaden our IT service offerings, while continuing to be highly profitable. We believe that with our successful migration of our business offerings, our continued profitability and our upcoming name change, it will be the right time to make an effort to move to the NASDAQ NMS. It reflects our continued growth and will give us access to a wider range of investors," he stated.
Headquartered in Germantown, Maryland, ZMAX Corporation is focused on e-business solutions to middle market companies. The Company's IT services include enterprise resource planning, enterprise application integration, and internet application integration services. The Company employs approximately 200 employees working from seven regional offices across the United States.
Statements made in this press release that are not historical or current facts are "forward looking statements" made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of federal securities laws. Forward looking statements represent management's best judgment as to what may occur in the future, but are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those presently anticipated or projected. These factors and others are discussed in the "Management Discussion and Analysis" section of ZMAX's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1998, to which reference should be made.
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ZMAX CORPORATION is quoted on the NASDAQ Small Cap exchange under the symbol of "ZMAX" and on the Frankfurt and Berlin Stock Exchanges under the symbol of "ZMX"
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