Earnings: 416% Growth in Revenue for Year to $17.8 Million
VANCOUVER, March 15 /CNW/ - For the quarter ended December 31st, 1998,
Burnt Sand Solutions Inc. (''Burnt Sand'') (TSE:BRT) reports revenues of
$5.57 million, an increase of 278% over revenues of $2.01 million for the
quarter ended December 31st, 1997. Earnings Before Interest, Depreciation and
Amortization (EBITDA) for the quarter were $533,000 ($0.01 per share) or 9.6%
compared to an EBITDA loss of $293,000 ($0.01 per share) for the quarter ended
December 31st, 1997.
Goodwill Amortization and Write Down
For the quarter ended December 31st, 1998, Burnt Sand reports that the
company has written down $2.75 million of goodwill which originated from the
reverse takeover of Burnt Sand Solutions Inc. by FrontLine Technology Partners
Inc. This writedown reflects Burnt Sand's focus on professional services and
the delivery of leading new Internet-enabled solutions, and away from the
historical focus on infrastructure deployment services.
The net loss for the quarter ended December 31st, 1998, included
amortization of $0.7 million relating to the amortization of goodwill arising
from the acquisition of RDI Retail Dynamics Inc. and from the reverse takeover
of Burnt Sand by FrontLine. Burnt Sand has decided to amortize the goodwill
generated by the RDI acquisition over a two-year period.
Including the above non-cash amortization and write-down of goodwill,
Burnt Sand recorded a net loss for the quarter ended December 31st, 1998, of
$3,085,000 ($0.09 per share) compared to a loss of $205,000 ($0.01 per share)
for the quarter ended December 31st, 1997.
Year Ending December 31, 1998
For the year ended December 31st, 1998, Burnt Sand reports revenues of
$17.80 million, an increase of 416% over revenues of $4.28 million for the
year ended December 31st, 1997. EBITDA for the year ended December 31st, 1998
was a loss of $69,000 ($0.00 per share) compared to a loss of $1,120,000
($0.06 per share) for the previous year. After the goodwill write-off and
amortization, Burnt Sand reported a net loss of $4.33 million for the year
ended December 31st, 1998, ($0.13 per share) compared to a loss of $1.14
million ($0.06 per share) for the year ended December 31st, 1997.
''Our aggressive acquisition program for consolidating leading young
professional services firms will result in the creation of substantial
goodwill on our balance sheet. Our plan is to amortize this goodwill over
shorter rather than longer periods of time. In our view, Burnt Sand's
financial results over the next few years should be analyzed on the basis of
revenue and EBITDA growth excluding goodwill amortization expense,'' states
Jim Yeates, Chairman & CEO of Burnt Sand Solutions Inc. ''We continue to make
good progress in the development of our long term strategy. The recent
acquisition of RDI Retail Dynamics Inc. provides our customers with increased
capability from our company in the area of Data Warehousing and Business
Intelligence Solutions, and the proposed acquisition of Choreo Systems Inc.,
broadens our opportunities in our Internet related service offerings. New
projects in the fourth quarter from present customers include TransCanada
Pipelines, Shaw Communications, and Northern Telecom Wireless, along with new
customers in the quarter, such as Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers, Canadian
Airlines, BC Rail, and Mortice Kern Systems reflect the increasing recognition
we are getting in the marketplace. The company is well positioned to continue
the exceptional growth we have seen in the first three years of our
existence.''
About Burnt Sand Solutions Inc.
Burnt Sand Solutions Inc. is a leading new breed of management consulting
and systems integration firm. The company helps its clients achieve their
competitive advantage through the delivery of high quality professional
services and the deployment of technology enabled strategic business solutions
such as Customer Relationship Management, E-Commerce, Knowledge Management
Solutions, Energy Trading, Data Warehousing, and Business Intelligence
Solutions. These integrated solutions utilize leading technologies that are
generally WEB based or enabled. Burnt Sand partners with clients in three core
disciplines: Burnt Sand Strategies helps clients develop breakthrough business
models and processes through business strategy consulting and needs analysis.
Burnt Sand Professional Services provides expert application design,
development and project implementation services to help clients build and
deploy solutions that create competitive advantage. Burnt Sand Solutions
Integration delivers complete solutions in the practices of enterprise-wide
Customer Relationship Management Solutions and Net Solutions including network
architecting, security and systems engineering services for complex network
applications. Burnt Sand has five offices and approximately 120 employees
throughout Canada and the United States. For more information visit our Web
site at www.burntsand.com.
For further information: Jim Yeates, Chairman and CEO, (604) 608-6407,
jyeates@burntsand.com; Gerry Van Gaans, CFO, (604) 608-6416,
gvangaans@burntsand.com |
