PCOM P-Com Announces Restructuring Plan to Reduce Costs and Return to Cash-Flow
Positive; P-Com Founder Returns as Interim CEO
Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2002--P-Com, Inc.
(Nasdaq:PCOM), a leading provider of wireless telecom products and
services, today announced a customer-focused restructuring plan to
return the company to cash-flow positive by the fourth quarter 2002,
strengthen the management team, and introduce a new product line with
enhanced features.
P-Com said the plan includes the following:
-- George Roberts, Chairman of the Board and founder of the
company, has been named interim CEO effective immediately,
replacing CEO Jim Sobczak. Randy Carl has been appointed
as Senior Vice President, Sales, and John Wood has been
named to the newly created position of Chief Technical
Officer.
-- The company is consolidating its R&D and manufacturing
operations, closing four facilities in the U.S. and United
Kingdom.
-- The company has set an operating expense reduction goal of
$3.3 million, or 31 percent, in the first quarter of 2002,
compared to the fourth quarter of 2001. With these
reductions, P-Com has cut quarterly operating expenses
$8.1 million, or 53 percent, compared to the first quarter
of 2001. Included in these reductions is an additional
decrease in the company's workforce of 42 full-time
employees by the end of the first quarter. Over the past
four quarters, the company has reduced its workforce 41
percent from 612 to 363.
-- Cagan-McAfee Capital Partners of Cupertino, Calif., has
been engaged as a strategic advisor to help develop and
implement the restructuring plan and work with bondholders
and private equity investors on behalf of the company.
"P-Com's large installed base of world-class products, its global
strategic alliances and partners, and its blue-chip portfolio of
customers continue to be the future growth engine for our
shareholders," Roberts said. "The changes announced today instill
additional financial and operational discipline initiated in 2001 and
will ensure execution of our business strategy. Equally important, we
intend to aggressively market our family of next-generation products,
which deliver superior quality and performance."
Roberts, who founded the company in 1991 and took it public in
1995, said P-Com will concentrate on supplying broadband wireless
equipment and services to wireless operators and telecom services
providers. The company's strategic roadmap focuses on marketing
product lines that will demonstrate immediate revenue gains and
improved financial performance.
P-Com will continue to provide Point to Point systems, both for
licensed and unlicensed frequencies; Point to Multipoint systems
operating in either TDMA or FDMA modes; and engineering and
installation services for both wire-line and wireless customers.
"This broad range of products gives us the flexibility to
concentrate resources wherever customer spending is occurring and in
the areas least impacted by the global slowdown in the
telecommunications equipment and services market," Roberts said. "To
meet shareholder expectations, we have significantly reduced costs to
adapt to changing market conditions. We will continue to look for
additional opportunities to reduce overall operating costs, while
growing our top line. As a result, our plan calls for achieving
positive cash-flow by the fourth quarter of 2002."
Roberts said P-Com will seek to strengthen relationships with its
current alliance partners, which include Siemens (worldwide), Myntal
(China), Hitachi-Kokusai Corp. (Japan), and Philipinas Wincom
(Philippines). P-Com's current customers include AT&T, China PTIC
Information Industry Corporation, Vodafone Mannesmann, Mercury
One-2-One (Deustche Telecom), Orange Personal Communications Services
(France Telecom), and Technology Bureau S.A. P-Com has more than
100,000 radios installed in more than 100 countries around the world.
"P-Com is recognized as one of the world's most innovative
providers of high-quality wireless equipment because of the
outstanding team we've assembled," Roberts said. "This ongoing series
of initiatives will enable the company to rapidly respond to emerging
market opportunities."
About P-Com, Inc.
P-Com, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets complete lines of
Point-to-Multipoint, Point-to-Point, Spread Spectrum wireless access
systems, and through it's wholly owned subsidiary, P-Com Network
Services, provides related installation, engineering and system
maintenance services for the worldwide telecommunications market.
P-Com broadband wireless access systems are designed to satisfy the
high-speed, integrated network requirements of Internet access
providers and competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs). Cellular
and personal communications service (PCS) providers utilize P-Com
Point-to-Point systems to provide backhaul between base stations and
mobile switching centers. Government, utility, and business entities
use P-Com systems in public and private network applications. For more
information visit www.p-com.com.
P-Com, Inc.'s world headquarters are located in Campbell,
California, USA. P-Com has offices located in Florida, Virginia, the
United Kingdom, Italy, China, and Singapore. P-Com is an ISO 9001
certified Company. For additional information, contact P-Com at 3175
S. Winchester Boulevard, Campbell, CA 95008 USA. TEL: 408/866-3666,
FAX: 408/866-3655.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this release that are forward looking involve known
and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause P-Com's actual
results in future periods to be materially different from any future
performance that may be suggested in this release. Such factors may
include, but are not limited to, working capital constraints,
fluctuations in customer demand and commitments, both in timing and
volume, introduction of new products, commercial acceptance and
viability of new products and expenses associated therewith,
cancellations of orders without penalties, pricing and competition,
reliance upon subcontractors, P-Com's ability to have available an
appropriate amount of production capacity in a timely manner, the
ability of P-Com's customers to finance their purchases of P-Com's
products and/or services, the timing of new technology and product
introductions, the risk of early obsolescence, and the pending
stockholder class action lawsuit. Further, P-Com operates in an
industry sector where securities values are highly volatile and may be
influenced by economic and other factors beyond P-Com's control, such
as announcements by competitors and service providers. Reference is
made to the discussion of risk factors detailed in P-Com's filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its reports on
Form 10-K and 10-Q.
--30--mcc/sf*
CONTACT: P-Com, Inc., Campbell
Leighton Stephenson, 408/866-3666 (Investors)
pcom@p-com.com
or
Greg Berardi, 415/566-6277 (Media)
greg@bluemarlinpartners.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA FLORIDA VIRGINIA CHINA FRANCE GERMANY ITALY
JAPAN PHILIPPINES SINGAPORE UNITED KINGDOM INTERNATIONAL ASIA PACIFIC
EUROPE
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: INTERNET MANUFACTURING NETWORKING
TELECOMMUNICATIONS TELEVISION/RADIOS MANAGEMENT CHANGES EARNINGS
SOURCE: P-Com, Inc.
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