I am sure noone knew this news till after the bell. That must be the reason for the high volume selloff. Noone knew the company was going to say that growth from Verizon Wireless was weaker than expected. Right?! ROTFLMAO
biz.yahoo.com
Thursday January 11, 7:06 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Boston Communications Group, Inc.
Boston Communications Group Comments on Fourth Quarter and 2001 Outlook
WOBURN, Mass., Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Communications Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCGI - news) today announced that it expects revenues for the year ended December 31, 2000, to come in line with its previous guidance of $76 million, released on December 6, 2000. The Company also expects that earnings per share, prior to the gain associated with its fourth quarter sale of its Teleservices Division, will be slightly ahead of analysts' consensus expectations of $0.12. The Company also expressed continued comfort with analysts' consensus estimate for 2001 earnings per share of $0.62.
The Company is reporting fourth quarter prepaid net subscriber additions of 245,000, reflecting lower than expected growth from Verizon Wireless. However, growth for most of BCGI's other carrier customers was strong and, on average, approximately 70% higher than the 1999 fourth quarter. The Company believes that Verizon will be well positioned to accelerate prepaid growth in 2001.
``Verizon Wireless remains committed to its pre-paid wireless products,'' said Debra Carroll, Vice President - Marketing for Verizon Wireless. ``We are confident that customers value the convenience and predictability of pre-paid services.''
E.Y. Snowden, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boston Communications Group, commented, ``We remain confident in our prepaid growth prospects with Verizon Wireless. We are pleased that, despite lower than expected subscriber growth this quarter, we are able to meet our financial targets. Additionally, other key prepaid metrics remained strong for the quarter, including continued positive churn trends, gross margins exceeding 75% as well as a slight increase in average minutes of use per month, placing BCGI in a strong position to meet our financial targets for 2001.''
``Our fourth quarter net subscriber adds will bring our total subscriber base to almost three million, representing a 58% annual growth rate, and making us the continued market leader in the prepaid wireless industry,'' continued Mr. Snowden. ``As Verizon and other carrier customers continue to expand their prepaid programs, we believe that our net subscriber adds will continue to be strong in 2001 and beyond.''
Boston Communications Group, Inc. is the leading provider of prepaid services to wireless carriers in America. Founded in 1988, BCGI provides telecommunications carriers with a range of resources, support services, and cutting-edge technology targeted to address the unique needs of the growing prepaid, electronic, and mobile commerce industries. BCGI provides one or more of its services to the top five wireless carriers in the United States, plus more than 70 additional carriers worldwide. Each service plays an integral role in BCGI's mission: Accelerating telecommunications growth with mission-critical solutions for its business partners. Please visit BCGI's web site at bcgi.net .
This press release contains, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding the continued growth of revenues, subscribers and profits, the financial results for the fourth quarter and 2001, and the continued strength of the prepaid wireless market. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Among the important factors that would cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are significant decreases in business from major customers, declines in demand for the Company's services and systems both domestically and internationally, the ability of the Company to successfully launch its m-commerce and e-commerce product, lack of acceptance of the Company's e-commerce or m-commerce services, lack of acceptance of the prepaid wireless service and systems, the ability of the Company to successfully support its IVSN network, unforeseen outages in the Company's IVSN network, the ability of the Company's carrier customers to successfully market and sell wireless prepaid service or the Company's e-commerce and m-commerce products, the ability of the company to retain customers, general global economic conditions, and the risk factors detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE: Boston Communications Group, Inc. |
