Scitex (Nasdaq: SCIX) , a supplier of inkjet technologies and digital imaging solutions, announced yesterday after US markets closed that its net loss in the third quarter was $40.8 million or $0.95 per share. The reported loss was in line with a profit warning issued on October 17.
For the same period last year, Scitex's net loss was $16.7 million, or $0.39 per share.
Third quarter 2001 results were substantially impacted by the write-downs reported by Creo Products, in which Scitex has a 27% stake. On October 11, 2001, Creo announced one-time write downs totaling $362 million. Consequently, Scitex recorded a $35 million equity loss representing its share in Creo's write-downs.
Excluding the write down, Scitex reported a pro forma net profit of $2.4 million, or $0.06 per share in the third quarter of 2001, compared with a pro forma net loss of $0.5 million, or $0.01 per share for the third quarter of 2000.
Revenue for the third quarter of 2001 was $66.6 million, an increase of 14% when compared with revenue of $58.4 million in the third quarter of 2000.
Operating cash flow was negatively affected in the third quarter by the September 11 events. Typically, September experiences strong cash collections following the slower summer months. Scitex also continued to invest in its portfolio companies. This resulted in a decrease of $3 million in cash and short-term investments and an increase of $11.3 million in bank debt. The company ended the quarter with cash of $20.3 million.
Scitex CEO Y. Agassi said, “Throughout these challenging times, Scitex Digital Printing and Scitex Vision continued to show year-on-year revenue growth. During the quarter, we experienced lengthened sales cycles. As a result, we remain conservative in our estimates over the coming months. We do expect continued revenue growth and improving margins for the long-term, but the full impact and duration of the current economic situation remains unclear.''
Scitex shares closed on Tuesday at $3.14 on the Nasdaq Exchange.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 7 November, 2001