yy & jw, thanks for all your hard work!!
Latest from the Kalamazoo Gazette (2/3/99):
BY Lynn Turner
I/Net Inc., the locally based maker of Internet and Intranet based software, announced another quarter of profitability, although figures were down for the same period a year ago.
Net earnings for the fourth quarter, the three month period ended Dec. 31, were $47,273, a 77.4 percent plummet from $209,190 reported for the same period in 1997. Earnings per share also fell to zero from 1 cent during the comparable quarters.
Net revenues in fourth quarter 1998 dropped 29 percent to $424,523 from $597,173 in year to year comparisons.
"Last December (1997) we had a $200,000 month, which literally made our fourth quarter," said Stephen Markee, president and chief executive officer of I/Net."We were not able to make that kind of billing this quarter."
"I have a feeling the first quarter is going to be good."
The financial decreases were tied to agreements I/Net has with computer giant IBM, which is helping to fund work the local company is doing to make Internet provider Netscape's server work on IBM's AS/400 computer series, Markee said. Because all the work was not completed by the end of the quarter, the payment was delayed.
It is expected the new Netscape product will be released in the first quarter of 1999. For all of 1998, however, I/Net showed growth.
Net earnings grew 3 percent to $287,896 in 1998 from $279,775 in 1997, which excludes a one-time gain. Earnings per share for the year continued on par with 1997 at 1 cent.
Net revenues grew 5 percent to almost $1.8 million in 1998 from about $1.7 million the previous year.
"I'm feeling better and better about 1999," Markee said."It's the old momentum. We've had a lot of stuff in our garden and we've been watering it and giving it fertilizer for a long time. Now the strategy is to see it bloom into a nice revenue opportunity."
I/Net's selling, general, and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales dropped 29 percent to $506,270 in 1998 from $573,003 even as revenues went up, according to the company statement releasing the news. Operating income in 1998 was $362,503 compared with $380,074 in 1997.
Gross margins- gross profit as a percentage of sales- dropped to 49 percent from 56 percent in year-toyear comparisons. Company officials attributed that to increased expenses for personnel working on an IBM Web site development project and costs related to the Netscape program.
I/Net announced last week it had signed a letter of intent to buy Consolidated Graphics Group Inc. of Cleveland, a privately held computer graphics, multimedia, printing, and direct marketing firm.
The addition of Consolidated Graphics, which will be run as a subsidiary of I/Net, is expected to boost the local firm onto the NASDAQ Small Cap Market from the Over-The -Counter Bulletin Board, Markee said. Consolidated Graphics, which employs about 100 workers, had revenues of about $12 million in 1998.
I/Net plans to issue 16 million shares of its common stock- worth roughly $32 million- to buy Consolidated Graphics. The deal is expected to be completed mid-year. |
