Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : IFMX - Investment Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (14013)	4/20/2000 9:01:00 AM
From: Logain Ablar	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14631

Hi Harry: I'll post the details this weekend. Margin was good, tax rate still low due to NOL's, SG&A higher this quarter with acquisition and increased marketing but expect it to decrease with ARDT intergration, DSO's increased but they expect this to also come down. Management does not guide the analysts like other companies due to the recent lawsuits. When one analyst stated the growth means 20 to 25% Jean-Yves was quick to state no it does not. From my perspective there were many positives in the presentation going forward. However a couple of points to focus on is the increased shares due to the litigation settlement and the customer advance revenue. Both hurt this quarters results (although the company was still able to meet targets). The customer advance is probably related to the SEC income recognition issue so being able to defer revenue and still make #'s is a plus. The DSO's is also a negative and the f/x of the $ against the euro hurt as well. I'll give details over the weekend. Still like the company as an investment. Should grow 15 to 20% this year (my estimate, not theirs). Of course in this market I've lowered my targets down. They still have the US competitiion issue with ORCL. They are growing in Europe and Asia but not as fast in the US. Tim

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (14013)	4/20/2000 9:14:00 AM
From: Logain Ablar	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14631

To our Stockholders, Partners and Customers, I am pleased to report that Informix posted a solid performance for Q1 of 2000. Year-over-year pro forma earnings per share tripled to $0.09 and our Web and business intelligence revenues grew 140 percent, demonstrating that we are getting traction in the new i.Economy. Revenues for the quarter totaled $250.9 million, a 10.3 percent increase over Q1 1999. Pro forma net income for the quarter, excluding $50.0 million in non-recurring charges associated with the acquisition of Ardent Software, was $27 million. We delivered this solid financial performance in Q1, which is traditionally the slowest quarter, while completing the acquisition of Ardent. We will continue to work diligently to leverage the full potential of this combination. These results demonstrate that we have started to benefit from our strategic refocus. The growth in the i.Economy has expanded customers' demand for our Web and Business Intelligence offerings. We have the right strategy and focus to provide customers with the leading-edge open solutions, infrastructure and engines that enable them to be successful in this new economy. We view our Web solutions and engines and our Business Intelligence offerings as the catalysts for our company's sustained growth. Indeed, our results this quarter validate this belief. Our Web business increased dramatically 352 percent over Q1 1999 with more than 40 new Web-specific customers, while Business Intelligence increased 42 percent from a year ago with more than 80 new Business Intelligence customers. We achieved a significant milestone this quarter: Web and Business Intelligence represented more than 40 percent of our total revenue. For the first time, the new i.Economy solutions and engines revenues were in excess of $100 million in a single quarter. This quarter, we continued to experience strong customer acceptance and growing momentum for our new product and solutions offerings, including i.Sell, i.Reach, Foundation.2000, and Business Intelligence. In addition, as you may have seen, we unveiled Informix's new "Way Ahead" advertising and awareness campaign around the globe. We have positioned the company as "Informix Software, the Way to Web." We are committed to helping accelerate existing and potential customers' ability to compete in the new i.Economy. Execution and delivery are the keys to that promise. Sincerely, Jean-Yves Dexmier President and Chief Executive Officer

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (14013)	4/21/2000 12:07:00 PM
From: Logain Ablar	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14631

Hi Harry: Here are my notes from the call. My impression is they did a good job considering some of the hurdles they had this quarter. The sign of good management is when things are adverse and you still come through. Of course you can tell management still needs to work on their presentation and sales skills. INFORMIX CONFERENCE CALL NOTES. For those not having a chance to listen. investor.informix.com 1) Call started a few minutes late and the slide presentation was not available for the live call (at least it wasn?t when I accessed the site @ 5 when the call started). It was apparent a few of the analysts asking questions didn?t have the slides. 2) Jean Yves Dexmier CEO and Charles Kane CFO 3) Started with normal disclaimers. 4) Jean-Yves discussed the business & Charles discussed the financials. Then we had the Q&A period. Jean-Yves tried to paint a picture of the company having a great quarter (I say tried cause we all know the street just focused on the lower than expected revenue growth). Jean-Yves was quite positive and emphasized the 80 new accounts, 50 new customers, the Mexico & China wins (where the revenue is back loaded and not in the quarter results) the products implementation (less than 12 weeks with Universal Studios Japan up in 6) and scalability (handling 100M hits a day). Jean-Yves is getting better at his presentations. This was better than year end. Still not as clear as others but it?s the #?s and forward #?s that count. A good point was the I.Economy products generated $100M in revenue for the 1st time. (Shows new product acceptance). Indicated strong momentum in the 1st quarter and they see strong momentum going forward with the new products. International presence is very strong. (US is not doing as well). Mentioned some customer wins (GAP, Vodaphone, a couple of others). Europe over 20% growth on local currency basis (less with F/X). Company?s strength is in reality not perception. They have to improve the perception. Chuck discussed the financials. Financials were good except for a few items. Good points. Cash increased by 31+ million. Sales increased by 10% (of course we can take this as a bad point to). Expenses increased but we can expect to see a leveling out throughout the year. Other income ? two components - 4M investment (last year they had debt and this was small) and $2.5 on sale of MSFT stock (that they had acquired when MSFT acquired co?s. they had invested in. Margins improved (I didn?t catch the exact %, gross over 70, net over 10) Tax rate 20%. Bad points. DSO?s @ 89 (This was one of the dropped shoes). Expect it to go down to 78 next qtr and continue to decrease (not sure what it was @ year end). F/X loss from strengthening $$. $4.1 vs. last qtr and 8.6M. vs. last year 1st qtr. Customer advances (this is the area of concern). In licensing revenue but only $7.? And they had forecasted it to be higher (almost double). This is part of the problem with North America revenue. They do expect the other income to offset any short fall this year. This was a big time miss. From the CC I felt Jean-Yves didn?t realize the #?s were that bad. He missed the opportunity to help guide the street going forward (at least saying they are comfortable with forecasts). As an alternative (since the company doesn?t like to help guide in public) they should have reemphasized during the Q&A the 1st quarter is the weakest, the Ardent transaction was neutral in Q1 and they expect it to be acreative going forward. Its over now and we?ll have to wait for the company to continue to execute. Management needs to learn how to sell the stock as well as sell the product. I don?t mean hype the stock but there is a way to manage the street (of course you do need to execute). Jean-Yves mentioned they are strong at reality poor at perception. While he was meaning the products he again showed he is not yet a salesman. Some of the detail #?s won?t be available till the 10Q (on actual revenue and expenses by business group). Tim