SUREFIRE COMMERCE REPORTS THIRD CONSECUTIVE QUARTER OF STRONG REVENUE AND OPERATING PROFIT GROWTH
Montreal, QC, August 2, 2000- SureFire Commerce Inc. (TSE: MTP) today announced its first quarter FY2001 financial results for the period ended June 30, 2000.
Revenues for the first quarter were reported at $13.5 million, up 14 per cent from revenues of $11.9 million in the preceding quarter, and up 56 per cent from the $8.7 million reported in Q3 FY2000. Operating profit totaled $1.8 million, up from last quarter's $1.6 million, representing $0.02 per share. The company reported a net loss of $1.7 million or $0.02 per share, up from last quarter's $1.0 million, resulting primarily from an increase in goodwill amortization which rose from $2.6 in Q4 2000 to $3.7 million this quarter, due to the company's recent acquisition of Stumpworld Systems, Inc.
"During the last nine months, we have become a significant international provider of online credit card transaction processing services," said Rory Olson, president and CEO of SureFire Commerce. "Over the last three quarters, SureFire has generated in excess of $34 million in revenue and $4.4 million in operating profit since its founding in December of 1999. We are now building upon this success and expanding into the second phase of the business plan -- the expansion and implementation of our merchant enablement solutions."
Highlights on the quarter include:
- the close of the acquisition of Stumpworld Systems Inc.;
- announcement of scheduled launch of BuyItOnline.ca;
- recruitment of additional key technical personnel;
- design and installation of the company's new state-of-the-art data centre;
- installation of new merchant support and customer care call centres; and
- signing of its first merchant enabling agreement, with AOL Canada Inc.
"The AOL Canada agreement represents the first of a number of such 'leveraged distribution agreements'", said Mr. Olson. "Our business model is to seek out those ISPs, telcos, and financial institutions in North America and Europe that can provide either consumer traffic or a significant merchant base to drive our BuyItOnline merchant communities. Through additional agreements, we expect to see a substantial number of Canadian merchants coming online with us before the end of this fiscal year, providing SureFire with additional transaction processing revenues, as well as new hosting and service fees added to our bottom line."
The company also announced today that Mark Krakower, SureFire's senior vice president, Corporate Affairs and interim CFO, has been appointed to the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer. Mr. Krakower, a member of the company's senior management team, was previously senior vice president and chief operating officer of Micro Tempus Inc. During the transformation from Micro Tempus to SureFire Commerce, Mr. Krakower implemented new procedures and programs that led to rationalization and increased efficiencies of the company's operations.
"A large part of our focus, during the quarter, has been human resources and technical infrastructure," said Joel Leonoff, executive vice president and chief operating officer of SureFire Commerce. "We have attracted outstanding talent. For example, we recently appointed Michel Masson as our Director of Network Operations. Mr. Masson played a key role in the growth of the globalization of the Network Centre Operations for Teleglobe International. His team is installing one of the most sophisticated data centres in North America, ensuring the highest level of security and reliability for our hosting and applications. We are truly at the forefront of e-commerce technology."
SureFire Commerce Inc. (TSE:MTP) is business-to-business provider of proprietary e-commerce solutions. SureFire Commerce enables its business partners to generate e-commerce revenue by allowing them to conduct business effectively on the Internet. SureFire Commerce solutions include merchant enabling, transaction processing, hosting, as well as secure file and document management services. SureFire Commerce is headquartered in Montreal, with offices in Ottawa and Boston.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of SureFire Commerce with respect to its performance, business and future events. Such statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results and events may vary significantly.
For further information, please visit our website at surefirecommerce.com or contact:
Mark Krakower
SureFire Commerce Inc.
Tel: (514) 380-2703
krakowerm@sfcommerce.com
Investor Relations:
Paula A. Morrison
Goodman Communications Inc.
Tel: 416-921-9100 ext. 257
Paula@goodmanpr.com |
