``For software products, visibility still remains weak,'' Ubizen said in an electronic press release. ``Performance of the software products division is not expected to improve in the near future.''
Ubizen's Third-Quarter Loss Widens to EU9.1 Mln Vs EU2.1 Mln
By Andrew Clapham
Brussels, Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Ubizen NV, Belgium's largest Internet-security company, said its loss widened in the third quarter as a slowing economy crimped demand for its software.
The company's loss before interest and taxes widened to 9.1 million euros ($8.3 million) from 2.1 million euros in the same period a year earlier. Sales rose 31.4 percent to 25.1 million euros. KBC Securities had expected an operating loss of 4.4 million euros and sales of 25.7 million euros.
``For software products, visibility still remains weak,'' Ubizen said in an electronic press release. ``Performance of the software products division is not expected to improve in the near future.''
The company posted a net loss of 9.5 million euros, compared with a profit of 1.7 million in the year-earlier period.
Ubizen, spun off from the Catholic University of Leuven in 1995, said last month it will probably take until the end of 2001 to post a profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It earlier set a Sept. 30 target.
From the second quarter, sales fell 10.7 percent, the first quarter-on-quarter decline since the stock began trading in February 1999. Slowing economic growth in Europe and the U.S. is forcing customers to delay investments in Internet security. In July, Rival Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. in the U.S. also posted its first consecutive quarterly drop in sales in at least five years.
Leuven, Belgium-based Ubizen's main products are OnlineGuardian, where Ubizen monitors customers' Internet-linked computer networks to prevent fraud and unauthorized access, and MultiSecure, which protects networks from illegal access and secures and documents electronic business transactions. |
