Revenues to Be Significantly Below Expectations
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Ariba, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA)
today announced that results for its fiscal second quarter ended
March 31, 2001 are expected to be significantly lower than the Company's
previous expectations. Total revenues are now expected to be approximately
$90 million, which would represent approximately 125 percent growth over the
same period last year. As a result of the revenue shortfall, the Company
expects a significant loss from operations of approximately ($0.20) per share
excluding certain non-cash charges for the quarter.
"As many others are also realizing, the slowdown in both the economy and
technology spending has been much more dramatic than we had previously
expected. At the end of the quarter, we experienced a large unexpected
drop-off in our sales closure," said Keith Krach, Ariba's chairman and CEO.
"While many customers selected Ariba's technology, spending decisions at the
executive level were postponed as customers evaluated their budgets in light
of the prevailing economic uncertainty. This impact was primarily in
North America, but is beginning to be felt in Europe as well."
As a result of the economic conditions, the Company also announced a plan
to reduce spending across all major areas, including a reduction in workforce
by approximately 700 employees, which represents about one-third of the total
current employee base. "We are taking immediate and decisive action to ensure
our business plans reflect today's economic realities," continued Mr. Krach.
"We have some of the best people in the industry at Ariba and this is
certainly a difficult step to take. Unfortunately, like many other companies,
we find ourselves having to make similar, painful moves."
"Under current market conditions, the predictability of our business going
forward is very limited, so it's important to realign our own expense
structure immediately," said BobCalderoni, executive vice president and
chief financial officer. "We believe that the actions we are initiating today
will help to protect our financial position during this current economic
downturn and should position us well as the economy recovers."
As a result of the difficult economic conditions and other factors, Ariba
expects to incur significant one-time write-offs relating to, among other
things, investments and real estate commitments. The Company also expects to
incur a significant write down of goodwill related to recent acquisitions.
In addition, as further described in a joint press release issued today by
Ariba and the Agile Software Corporation, given the challenging economic and
market conditions, Ariba and Agile have decided not to continue their proposed
merger.
The company will be holding a conference call today at 2:00 pm PT. The
dial-in number is 719-457-2654. There will be a live web broadcast available
on the investor relations web site at www.ariba.com. A replay of this call
will be available at 4:00 PT by dialing 719-457-0820, passcode 462-927.
Ariba's final results will be announced on April 20, 2001.
About Ariba
Ariba, Inc. is the leading business-to-business (B2B) eCommerce platform,
provider. Through the Ariba B2B Commerce Platform -- an open, end-to-end
infrastructure of interoperable software solutions and hosted Web-based
commerce services -- the company enables efficient online trade, integration
and collaboration between B2B marketplaces, buyers, suppliers and commerce
service providers. The global reach and best-of-breed functionality of the
Ariba B2B Commerce Platform creates Internet-driven economies of scale and
process efficiencies for leading companies around the world. Ariba can be
contacted in the U.S. at 650-930-6200 or at www.ariba.com.
Ariba Safe Harbor
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
1995: Information and announcements in this release involve Ariba's
expectations, beliefs, hopes, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the
future and are forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties. All forward-looking statements included in this release are
based upon information available to Ariba as of the date of the release, and
we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. These
statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could
differ materially from our current expectations. Factors that could cause or
contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: delays in
development or shipment of new versions of our Ariba B2B Commerce Platform;
lack of market acceptance of the Ariba B2B Commerce Platform or other new
products or services; inability to continue to develop competitive new
products and services on a timely basis; introduction of new products or
services by major competitors; our ability to attract and retain qualified
employees; difficulties in assimilating companies previously acquired,
including Tradex, Trading Dynamics, and SupplierMarket.com; inability to
expand our operations to support increased growth; the recognition of an
increasing portion of revenues at the end of the quarter; declining economic
conditions, including a recession; inability to control costs; changes in our
pricing or compensation policies; inability to successfully manage a reduction
in the company's workforce; and significant fluctuations in our stock price.
These and other factors and risks associated with our business are discussed
in the Company's Form 10-K filed December 29, 2000 and Form 10-Q filed
February 14, 2001.
NOTE: Ariba and the Ariba logo are registered trademarks and Ariba B2B
Commerce Platform is a trademark of Ariba, Inc. All other products or company
names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be
trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Ariba, Inc.
-0- 04/02/2001
/CONTACT: Stefanie Elkins of Ariba, Inc., 650-930-6200, or
investor@ariba.com/
/Web site: ariba.com
(ARBA)
CO: Ariba, Inc.
ST: California
IN: CPR NET
SU: ERP
MP-HG
-- SFM153 --
2828 04/02/2001 16:08 EDT prnewswire.com
//Begin Meta Data//
Selector Code: ..b7c
Copyright 2001, PR Newswire |
