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Spring 2000
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General Automation has announced net income of $791,000 or $0.08 per share, for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999, compared to a loss of ($12.4 million) or ($1.33) per share, for the year ended September 30, 1998.
Total sales for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999, were $28.9 million, down slightly from sales of $30.7 million for the comparable period ended September 30, 1998. Revenues grew by more than 30 percent between 1998 and 1999 in system software sales and software services, while hardware service revenue declined 25.3 percent. Gross profit margin improved to 39.5 percent in 1999 from 23.2 percent in 1998. General Automation said its efforts in the future will be to increase software sales, which have a higher gross margin and lower cost of sales.
Net income in 1999 includes an extraordinary gain of $3.5 million, which resulted from debt forgiveness from Boundless Technologies and Texas Micro, Inc. (TMI), and a $1.2 million write-down of goodwill associated with the TMI acquisition.
“The year 1999 was one of the most important in the Company’s 30-year history and we are pleased with the financial results,” said Jane Christie, General Automation President & CEO. “With our recently announced ePath™ strategy in place, we are now positioned for the future to play a significant role in the trend toward e-Business for our customers.”
General Automation said in issuing its earnings it believes “its future lies with the ability to undertake and complete an expanded strategic direction, called ePath™ in the year 2000 and beyond.” The Company said this expanded strategy will help solve a growing crisis for its MultiValue software customers, a market valued at nearly $3 billion annually.
General Automation said it believes it has the expertise and business acumen needed to develop and bring to market products that will allow these customers to seamlessly integrate their MultiValue systems into e-Business.
“This is the future for General Automation and we believe our timing is perfect in partnering with the MultiValue marketplace as it moves into the new Web-enabled economy,” Christie said.
“General Automation will this year provide standards-based, enterprise data access solutions that make it easy for MultiValue customers to use Windows-based and other leading business intelligence tools and e-Business applications with their line-of-business MultiValue data,” the Company said.
“In addition, General Automation’s new solutions incorporate the most advanced, Web and e-Commerce XML technology developed by Liberty Integration, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Automation.
“The ePath™ initiative will,” the Company said, “bring to life the Company’s goal of partnering with its channels and their customers to leverage the Web, to help them derive more value from their MultiValue data, and to achieve a competitive advantage through e-Business.”
GA eXpress LtdLast Updated: 01 May 2000