04/04/2000 12:35:04
InfoNow Expects Positive Reply On Nasdaq Listing This Wk
Dow Jones International News Service via Dow Jones
By Tom Locke
DENVER (Dow Jones)--InfoNow Corp. (INOW), now traded on the over-the-counter Bulletin Board, expects a positive response this week on its application to be traded on the Nasdaq National Market System, said InfoNow Chief Financial Officer Kevin Andrew.
"They've told us they should be done this week" Andrew told Dow Jones Newswires. Andrew said InfoNow meets all the quantitative criteria to be listed on the Nasdaq National Market System, but that doesn't guarantee a listing will be approved. Nevertheless, he said, the company hasn't received any indication that Nasdaq would turn down the application.
"I would expect that they would say yes," Andrew said.
InfoNow, a Denver provider of Internet services that improve manufacturers' use of resellers, could be listed within a few days of approval, said Andrew. The listing would be "probably no later than a week after we actually got word," he added.
Andrew anticipates that InfoNow would continue to trade under the INOW symbol.
If InfoNow does gain a listing, Andrew foresees a number of pluses for the company, since it will be moving from the nether world of OTC Bulletin Board stocks, which tend to be shunned by brokers, investors, and news agencies.
InfoNow was started in 1990, went public on Nasdaq in 1992, was delisted from Nasdaq about two years later, and then redirected its efforts to the Internet and hired a new management team in late 1995.
In July 1996 the redirected efforts yielded a product that enabled customers of Visa U.S.A. to go to the Visa.com Web site, plug in a particular location, and find Visa's nearest "Plus" automatic teller machines.
From that iLocator product, InfoNow has since expanded to its iLeads product, which enables an individual consumer or business to go to the Web site of a manufacturer such as Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) and find the nearest and/or most appropriate retail outlet or other reseller of the manufacturer's product.
InfoNow's next offering, iCommerce, will be available in the second quarter and will enable purchases to be made over the Internet through a reseller.
For 1999, InfoNow posted a net loss of $86,000, or 1 cent per share, on revenue of $5.8 million, compared with a net loss of $1.1 million, or 18 cents per share, on revenue of $2.5 million in 1998.
In 2000, the company is expecting about $10 million in revenue, and it expects to post a net loss because of increased marketing and product development expenditures, Andrew said. Those increased expenditures will be made possible in part by a $5 million investment, announced Monday, by Putnam Investments, NR Ventures Ltd. and RIT Capital Partners PLC. The recent round of financing supplements a $5 million investment by Putnam last December.
With 7.2 million shares outstanding, InfoNow's recent price of 16 gives it a market capitalization of $115 million, which is 11.5 times expected 2000 revenue.
That multiple is considerably below what some similar Nasdaq companies have been trading at, said Andrew, and he expects that in the long run the Nasdaq listing should help the company's share price.
But some anticipation of the Nasdaq listing is already probably priced into the stock, said Andrew, so he's unsure what the short-term effect will be. "Are we going to get a huge pop on the first day? I kind of doubt it," he said.
Listing on Nasdaq will greatly broaden the potential appeal to brokers and investors, said Andrew. And the company has been looking at the possibility of a secondary equity offering late this year. That offering would be much more appealing for an investment banking company to underwrite if the company has a Nasdaq listing, he said.
The company also expects a Nasdaq listing would increase coverage by analysts. It now has coverage by only one analyst, Steve Lidberg of Pacific Crest Securities, Andrew said.
One final plus of a Nasdaq listing for Andrew in particular: fewer phone calls. He now gets about 30 calls a day inquiring about the potential Nasdaq listing, he said.
-By Tom Locke; Dow Jones Newswires; 303-293-9294
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 04-04-00
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Received by NewsEdge Insight: 04/04/2000 12:35:04 |
