Why no contract announcements?
First, on the IT side, Keane has signed over 480 contracts and announced less than 5% of these. Why? If anyone recalls the last conference call with TPRO, only four clients were willing to even be mentioned. Why?
From a business standpoint, we are looking at a large expense (I believe the IRS is letting it be expensed, rather than amortized) which is money that will be spent just to stay in business. That means money not invested in increased capacity, acquisitions, or other revenue generating activities. Do you want your competitor to know how much of an extraordinary expense you have coming up in the next year?
Also, while announcing a multi-million dollar contract may be a source of joy for the shareholders of the Y2K remediation company, there is an equal amount of chagrin on the part of the subject company shareholders. And these days there are class-action lawyers flying lazy circles around every company that disappoints it's shareholders. "Well, Joe CEO, just when did you become aware of the fact that the year after 1999 ends in two zeros?" "Have you ever heard of a calendar?" "Could you have started this process sooner?"
Therefore I think you will see fewer contract announcements, as time goes by, not more. Not fewer contracts, just fewer announcements. The 10Q's will serve as the real scorecard in the end, both for the companies buying Y2K services and those that are selling them.
Zebra |
