STRATEGIC PARTNERS
November 25, 2002
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Datawest Solutions Inc. (TSX: DS) reported revenues of $11.4 million (about $7.2 million U.S.) for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, down 4 percent compared to $11.9 million for 2001's third quarter. Total revenues for the first nine months of 2002 increased to $34.3 million (about $21.8 million U.S.), compared to $31.8 million for the previous year.
Loss for the quarter improved by 61 percent to $500,000 (about $318,000 U.S.), compared to a loss of $1.3 million (about $826,700 U.S.) for the comparable quarter in 2001. However, Datawestincurred restructuring and other charges of $8.9 million in 2002's third quarter, which resulted in a net loss for the quarter of $9.4 million (about $5.9 million U.S.).
According to a news release, the restructuring and other charges included $2.2 million related to a workforce reduction announced in August and a non-cash charge of $6.3 million related to the write-down of the carrying value of certain capital assets that will not be in use in the business going forward.
The business restructuring charge will result in an improvement in net income of approximately $4.4 million annually, according to the release.
The company's Banking Solutions Group revenues, including data processing, professional services and product and license sales, were $6.8 million (about $4.3 million U.S.) for the quarter, a $200,000 decrease over third quarter 2001.
Datawest's Payment Solutions Group revenueswere $4.4 million (about $2.7 million U.S.) for the quarter, a small decrease from the third quarter 2001.According to the release,Payment Solutions Group added 392 ATM and 727 point-of-sale devices, for a total of 7,122 ATMs and 2,501 POS devices under management at quarter's end.
Datawest's Payment Solutions Group manages Canada's largest ATM network and provides transaction processing, device management and monitoring. Its Banking Solutions Group is the principal provider of outsourced banking technology to Canadian credit unions, including advanced phone and Internet banking solutions and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
