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Washtech. After cutting price ranges and number of shares offered,
extensible markup language (XML) software developer Sequoia Software
Corp. [NASDAQ:SQSW] priced its initial public offering of stock at
$8.00 per share, raising $33.6 million in gross proceeds in the
process.
Sequoia's price is on the low end of the $8 to $10 per share range it had expected to sell the stock, according to the company's latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, Sequoia granted the underwriters - Lehman Brothers as lead underwriter, and other underwriters SG Cowen, Wit SoundView and Fidelity Capital Markets - an option to buy up to an additional 630,000 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any. Originally, the company was shooting for an IPO price between $11 and $13 per share to raise as much as $60 million. The company said it intends to use the net proceeds from the IPO to fund product and services development, expand its sales force and sales office locations, fund potential selected acquisitions and cover other general corporate expenses, including the funding of operating losses. In 1999, Sequoia lost $12.3 million dollars on revenues of $8.4 million, according to its S-1 filing. In the first quarter of 2000, the company's revenue totaled slightly more than $4 million, up 285 percent from the first quarter of 1999. The company reported a $4.4 million loss for the quarter, roughly the same relationship to revenue as its $1.4 million loss during the first quarter of the previous year. The figures overstate the actual cash loss Sequoia has suffered because they include accounting write-offs that the company must take because of its purchase last year of Radian Systems Inc. George Nichols of Morningstar.com, the Chicago stock research firm, said Sequoia hopes to benefit from the buzz for WebMethods Inc., the Fairfax software firm whose IPO had the biggest first-day leap this year by an Internet stock. Like Sequoia, WebMethods specializes in using the XML computer language to create electronic commerce systems for corporations taking their business online. Reported by Washtech.com, http://www.washtech.com/
Newsbytes - The long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) of pioneer search engine AltaVista Co., has reportedly been delayed until autumn following the recent downswing of high-tech stocks. A report in the Wall Street Journal said the closely watched offering has been put on ice by Internet investor CMGI Inc. [NASDAQ:CMGI], the company's majority owner. AltaVista postponed the IPO last month amid the stock market downdraft. At that time the firm had hoped to raise about $280 million, making it among the largest of the season. The report noted that many industry experts believed AltaVista would try to relaunch the IPO in the coming weeks, but CMGI Chief Executive David Wetherell told the Chase H&Q technology-stock conference in San Francisco that the company would wait until September or October. AltaVista reported a net loss of $272.2 million for the fiscal second quarter ended Jan. 31, on revenues of $50.9 million, but AltaVista spokesman David Emanuel said the company now expects to be in the black by year end. The announced IPO delay is the latest in a string of postponements for AltaVista, founded by Digital Equipment Corp. The firm was slated for an IPO in 1996, but Digital scrapped the plan, and the computer maker was sold to Compaq Computer Corp. in 1998. AltaVista was purchased by CMGI last August for about $2.7 billion, and the incubator has spent more than $70 million since October on advertising overhauling the site, but the engine has reportedly remained firmly fixed in the number 12 popularity position among Web surfers.
Newsbytes - Online auction destination eBay Inc. [NASDAQ:EBAY], lengthened its string of profitable quarters with the announcement of record revenue and income. In addition, strong growth for the company in Europe may be followed by launches of eBay sites in France and Italy. The San Jose, Calif.-based company said the value of items sold via person-to-person auctions on it popular Web sites broke the $1- billion mark during what was its first quarter of 2000, helping it to generate $85.8 million in revenue for itself. That's double the revenue reported in the same quarter in 1999. eBay's Steve Westly, a senior vice-president responsible for international operations, was quoted by the Reuters news service in Berlin as saying that the company's European operations accounted for $86.92 million of the more than $1 billion traded on its sites and for more than 966,000 of its subscribers. Westly said eBay Europe - currently consisting of auction communities for the UK and Germany - would be supporting wireless service for bidding via cell phones by July of this year and that this quarter it would announce details of its plans to expand to Italy and France, Reuters said. The expansion also comes with plans to soon charge listing fees at its UK site and, later, at eBay's sites in Japan and Australia, Westly was quoted as saying. The company has been charging for listings in Germany since February. The company added some continental flavor to its board of directors earlier this year with the appointment of Philippe Bourguignon, chairman and chief executive officer of Club Med, as a director. Bourguignon, a former Euro Disney executive, was added to the board in January along with Dawn Gould Lepore, a vice-chairman and chief information officer at Charles Schwab Corp. eBay said global net income was $6.3 million during the quarter, which works out to 5 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial had guessed income of 3 cents a share prior to eBay announcing its results after markets closed. "In the first quarter of 2000, eBay achieved unprecedented financial and operational success," Meg Whitman, the company's president and chief executive officer said in a statement. "The company is firing on all cylinders as it expands to become a truly global trading platform." During the first quarter of 1999, eBay registered income of 4 cents a share on revenue of $43.8 million. Other performance milestones reported by the eBay included a 133- percent increase in the number of auctions conducted during the most-recent quarter when compared to a year ago. The company said 53.6 million auctions saw its users exchange $1.15 billion. The number of registered users on the service at the end of the quarter was also up dramatically, with 12.6 million subscribers representing a 230-percent increased over the 3.8 million signed up on March 31, 1999. The company said 2.6 million of those users were signed up during the quarter, a record number for any three-month period.
Washtech - Integrated communications provider e.spire Communications Inc. [NASDAQ:ESPI] saw both its revenues and red ink increase for the first quarter of 2000, as compared to the year-ago period. Net loss applicable to common stockholders was $118.1 million or $2.29 per common share for the first quarter of 2000. After a charge related to the convertible preferred stock issued in the first quarter, net loss applicable to common stockholders would have been $93.5 million or $1.82 per common share. One analyst surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial estimated the company would report a loss of $1.65 per share. In the year-ago quarter, e.spire lost $66.9 million or $1.37 per diluted share. And in the fourth quarter of 1999, e.spire lost $99.8 million or $1.96 per common share. E.spire reported revenues of $66 million for the first quarter, a 14 percent increase over the prior quarter and 13 percent improvement over the year ago quarter. Revenue from e.spire's core telecom business increased 35 percent to $62 million, up from $46 million in the previous quarter and $40 million in the year ago quarter. As reported last month, e.spire is not in compliance with the revenue and adjusted EBITDA covenants contained in its $200 million Senior Secured Credit Facility, obtained in August 1999. In April, the syndicated bank group agreed to a standstill on any actions related to such non-compliance until June 15, 2000. In the meantime, e.spire and its banks are discussing amendments to these covenants. The company is current on its obligations related to this facility as well as its other indebtedness. At least 9 lawsuits filed by shareholders that seek class-action status are pending against e.spire, as a result of the non-compliance issue. The lawsuits, filed in the US District Court for the District of Maryland, claim that the company and three of its former officers violated federal securities laws in connection with financial reporting and disclosure during the period of August 12, 1999 through March 30, 2000. Also during the first quarter, e.spire said it obtained commitments for additional equity funding totaling $225 million. Cash and cash equivalents at quarter's end were approximately $119 million, which included the proceeds received from the issuance of convertible preferred stock and warrants of approximately $100 million in March 2000. Company officials say they believe that e.spire's current cash resources, together with the additional funding commitments, will be sufficient to finance corporate operations through 2000. E.spire Communications offerings traditional local and long distance, dedicated an dial-up Internet access and advanced data solutions. Last Friday, shares of e.spire closed off $0.25 or 6.1 percent at $3.875 apiece.
Newsbytes - Despite managing some of the Web's hottest entertainment sites, Walt Disney Co.'s Go.com [NYSE:GO] reported a deeper second-quarter loss in spite of increased revenue, and blamed increased costs to continued build-out investments. Go.com was created to track the performance of Disney's [NYSE:DIS] Web assets following the acquisition last November of Infoseek Corp. On a pro forma basis, Go.com reported a net loss of $292.2 million, or $1.88 a share on revenue of $97.6 million, compared to a pro forma loss of $254.9 million, or $1.66 a share, on revenue of $70.8 million, in the same period last year. The pro forma totals assume the Infoseek acquisition occurred at the start of fiscal 1999. Go.com, handles Disney's Internet and direct marketing businesses and stated that revenues for the quarter from Web operations increased 67 percent compared to the same quarter last year, but direct marketing revenues from Disney catalog operations decreased 10 percent, with the result of a total revenue increase of 38 percent to $97.6 million. Operating loss, net loss and loss per share for the quarter were reported at $126.7 million, $72.6 million and $0.47, respectively, excluding non-cash amortization of intangible assets. Michael Eisner, Disney's chairman and CEO, said, "The performance of GO.com continues to reflect the nascent stage of both the Internet economy and our Internet business. As with virtually every other Internet company, GO is investing as it builds for the future. But, the recent volatility in the markets reflects the fact that not every dot-com out there is going to survive. Not only will Disney's Internet assets survive, they will thrive." Go.com traffic consists of ABC-branded Web sites, ESPN.com, the GO.com portal, Family.com and Disney.com. The company said the success of the online version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and Oscars.com contributed to the increase in revenues at the ABC-branded Web sites.
Washtech - Drug-delivery concern Novavax Inc. [ASE:NOX] saw both its revenues and losses increase in the first quarter of 2000. Novavax reported revenues of $710,000, compared with $76,000 for the same period in 1999, an increase of 934 percent. Revenues for the first three months of 2000 increased due to payments received under license agreements for the company's proprietary Novasome adjuvant technology, as well as revenue recognized under contracts with the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies. The net loss for the quarter was $1.4 million or $0.08 per share on 17.3 million average shares outstanding, versus a net loss of $881,000 or $0.07 per share, on 13.3 million average shares outstanding reported in the same period last year. Wall Street expectations for the company's losses were not available. Novavax also said Denis M. O'Donnell, M.D., has been elected chairman of the company's board of directors. O'Donnell had previously served as vice chairman, and replaces Ronald H. Walker, who became chairman in 1998 and who remains on Novavax's board. Novavax is a biopharmaceutical drug delivery company that researches and develops differentiated drug products primarily in the fields of women's health, infectious diseases and cancer. Reported by Washtech.com, http://www.washtech.com. NOTE: Some of the articles in this feature contain content from The Washington Post. Washtech.com is owned by The Washington Post Co. through its Post-Newsweek Business Information Inc. subsidiary. Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com © Post-Newsweek Business Information, 2000. All rights reserved. |
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