Bridges.com third quarter summary
Bridges.com Inc BIT
Shares issued 9,466,250 1999-10-12 close $2.75
Tuesday Oct 12 1999
Mr. Norm Thompson reports
Schools using Career Explorer (CX) recorded almost 23 million hits on Bridges.com's on-line career development system during the 22 weekdays of September. This marks the first time usage has exceeded a million hits per day.
Total hits on the CX service in 1999 have topped 102 million -- more than four times the number registered in the first 10 months of 1998. Page views in September, 1999, were 5,445,608, up from 1,387,142 one year earlier.
"These numbers don't only reflect an increase in the number of subscribing sites -- they also reflect increased usage per subscriber," said Doug Manning, chief executive officer of Bridges.com. "These are good signs that indicate subscriber satisfaction with the CX service."
Recent accomplishments and developments
Two hundred twenty-one schools in 22 states and three provinces subscribed to CX last month. Four thousand four hundred sixty-two sites across North America (12.4 per cent of the middle and secondary school market) now subscribe to the service. Bridges.com's goal is to secure 4,500 subscribers before the end of fiscal 1999.
"Increasing market share is vital to Bridges.com's business plan," said Mike Martin, vice-president of sales. "Our selling model has proven to be very effective for enabling corporate growth in the emerging on-line marketplace. Both our high-quality CX service and exceptional customer support team are key reasons for our high rates of resubscription. We're very well positioned to exceed our 1999 distribution goals."
Strong performance by the Bridges.com selling team and the sale of a new West Virginia regional version of CX have pushed total 1999 revenues to $4.41-million. This compares with hits in $2,417,000 in revenues after 10 months of 1998.
The third quarter interim report, released on Sept. 29, outlined several examples of strong corporate growth. Earnings before taxes and amortization were $1,376,654, up 59 per cent from the $866,331 earned before taxes and amortization in the first nine months of 1998.
August and September are key months for securing resubscriptions to the CX service. Although some Bridges.com schools are still processing their resubscriptions for this year, it appears that the percentage of returning subscribers will again be in the high 80's to low 90's. One thousand seven hundred fifty-five sites were slated for renewal in this period. To date, 1,319 have resubscribed to CX. Final numbers for 1999 resubscriptions will be computed in November. "Customer response remains strong," said Norm Thompson, vice-president of finance at Bridges.com. "Approximately 100 sites of our 1,755 1998 subscribers have chosen at this time not to renew their subscription. The predominant reason is a lack of using the CX service to its full potential. For 2000 fiscal, we've increased our support team to provide more proactive services to subscribers. This proactive service will encourage our subscribers to make better use of the CX service. History has shown that subscribers who use our service consistently resubscribe."
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