PCNTF!! PCNTF news will hit Reuters shortly....its on Bloomberg now:
Pacific Internet Expects Profit in 4th Qtr to Exceed S$4 Mln
Pacific Internet Expects Profit in 4th Qtr to Exceed S$4 Mln
Singapore, Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Pacific Internet Ltd., which last week became
Asia's first Internet-related company to trade in the U.S., expects profits in its fourth
quarter to exceed the S$4 million ($2.4 million) it chalked up in the third. ''In Asia, the
Internet penetration is actually very low (and) the opportunity for growth is very high,''
Chief Executive Nicholas Lee said in an interview.
The final quarter's profit will give PacNet its first full- year profit in at least four years.
PacNet, a unit of one of Singapore's biggest industrial groups, SembCorp Industries
Ltd., started trading its shares in the U.S. Friday. Its shares rose more than five times its
offer price of $17 a share in the first hours of trading. It rose 5 1/2 to 35 Wednesday.
Lee said PacNet -- one of the three Internet service providers in Singapore -- expects
business to continue to expand in spite of Asia's economic turmoil as more companies
turn to the Internet for a cheaper way to communicate.
PacNet plans to expand into India and Australia this year, either through acquisitions or
setting up new companies. Taiwan, South Korea and China will follow. It has Internet
operations in Hong Kong and Philippines. ''The majority of our user base will not be in
tiny Singapore, but across the region -- with three million people in Singapore, how big
can you get, right?, '' Lee said.
PacNet competes in Singapore with SingNet, the Internet unit of Singapore
Telecommunications Ltd., the dominant phone company, and CyberWay, a unit of
StarHub Pte., which will offer fixed and mobile phone services on the island starting
April 2000. |
