Versant Announces $1.4 Million Common Stock and Warrant Financing And Preliminary Fourth Quarter Results
PR Newswire - January 19, 1999 16:53
FREMONT, Calif., Jan. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Versant Corporation (Nasdaq: VSNT)
announced today that it has raised $1.4 million through the private placement of 700,000
shares of Common Stock and Warrants to purchase an additional 350,000 shares of
Common Stock. The funding was provided by funds affiliated with Special Situations
Fund, a current shareholder in the Company.
"This financing provides Versant with needed working capital," stated Nick Ordon,
Versant's Chief Executive Officer. "We are pleased in the continued confidence that
Special Situations Fund has expressed in the Company by providing this round of
financing."
The Common Stock was sold at a price of $2.00 per share and the warrants, which
permit the purchase of an additional 350,000 shares at a price of $2.125 per share, were
sold for an additional $43,750.
Neither the Common Stock or Warrants, nor the shares issuable upon exercise of the
Warrants, have been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the
Common Stock and Warrants may not be offered or sold in the United States absent
registration or an exemption from applicable registration requirements. Versant has
agreed to file a registration statement for the resale of the shares of Common Stock
issued or issuable in connection with this transaction.
Versant also announced today that it expects total revenues for the fourth quarter ended
December 31, 1998 to be approximately $6.0 to $6.3 million as compared to $5.9
million for the third quarter of 1998.
The Company expects to report a net loss of between $.55 and $.61 per share for the
fourth quarter of 1998, before adjustments for the Company's restructuring activities
and certain non-cash charges related to asset impairment. The restructuring activity
consists of a reduction in worldwide headcount. Net loss for the third quarter of 1998
was $.44 per share. The Company attributes the increase in fourth quarter loss to
increased marketing and engineering expenses.
"1998 was a different market model for the company than we had experienced in
previous years," stated Nick Ordon. "Where we had historically relied heavily on fewer
deals, but of larger magnitude, 1998 consistently represented more transactions, but of
smaller size. During 1998 we did a lot of account seeding and saw our account and
project base grow, including a dramatic growth in development license sales. However,
we are obviously dissatisfied with the 1998 financial performance and have taken actions
to restructure the company accordingly, which allows us to dramatically reduce
operating expense as we move into 1999."
The estimated results and the statements related to the Company's restructuring and
expense reduction efforts in this announcement constitute forward-looking statements.
Actual results for the Company's fourth quarter of 1998 could materially differ from
those estimated depending on a number of factors, including whether all orders included
in estimated revenues meet the company's revenue recognition requirements, the
adequacy of estimated expense accruals and reserves, and fiscal quarter end adjustments
arising from the customary review by management and the company's independent
auditors. In addition, the Company's restructuring activities will result in increased
expenses for Q1 1999 and may not satisfy the Company's operating expense reduction
requirements. The matters discussed in this press release also involve risks and
uncertainties described from time to time in Versant's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC). In particular, see "Other Factors That May Affect Future
Operating Results" in the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-KSB and the most
recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-QSB filed with the SEC. These documents contain
and identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from
those contained herein.
The company plans to release final fourth quarter results on January 27, 1998.
About Versant Corporation
Versant Corporation is a leading provider of high-performance, enterprise database
management systems in complex data and distributed computing environments. Versant
solutions are used across a broad range of industries including telecommunications,
financial services, health care, energy and the emerging market for intranet and
transactional Internet applications. The Versant ODBMS and its related products offer
distributed enterprises large-scale reliability, scalability and performance for
mission-critical applications within existing computing environments.
Versant customers include ADC Telecommunications, AT&T, Alcatel Network
Systems, Banque Nationale de Paris, British Telecommunications plc., CalFP, Chase
Manhattan Bank, Chicago Stock Exchange, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, DSET, EDS,
Equitable Insurance, Fleet Bank, GTE Data Systems, Hitachi Telecom, HNC Software,
Lucent, National Westminster Bank, NationsBank, Northern Telecom, PSI Net, Sabre
Decision Technologies, Samsung, Siemens, Sprint, Schweizerische Mobiliar
Versicherung, Texaco, TRW, and MCI WorldCom. Versant is headquartered in
Fremont, California. Additional information about Versant and its products may be
obtained by phone at 510-789-1500 or via the World Wide Web at www.versant.com.
NOTE: Versant and Versant ODBMS are trademarks of Versant Corporation. All other
company names and product names are trademarks of the individual companies.
SOURCE Versant Corporation
/CONTACT: Gary Rhea, Chief Financial Officer, Versant Corporation,
510-789-1500, or grhea@versant.com/
/Web site: versant.com |
