NEW YORK, May 2 – InforMax reported first-quarter 2001 revenues of $6.6 million Wednesday, more than double first-quarter 2000 revenues of $3.2 million.
The company attributed its increased revenues to new sales of Genomax, its genomic and proteomic analysis bioinformatics platform.
“During the first quarter, we added six new customers for Genomax, with Genomax sales during the quarter averaging $545,000, compared with $377,000 in the fourth quarter of 2000,” said InforMax CEO Alex Titomirov in a statement. The company also added a top-five pharmaceutical company to its list of customers for its Vector NTI suite, Titomirov said.
The company’s expenses also increased over twofold to $10.9 million, from $5.1 million in the first quarter of 2000. These expenses included $8.2 million in sales, general, and administrative expenses, up from $3.4 million in the previous year quarter; as well as $2 million in R&D expenses compared to $961,000 in the first quarter of 2000. The company also reported $268,000 in stock-based compensation, and $442,000 in depreciation and amortization expenses.
The increased expenses caused InforMax to report losses that were double than those that Wall Street originally expected.
On April 4, the company warned that its losses would greatly exceed the 11 cents per share originally expected by Wall Street, due to relocation expenses for its headquarters; severance pay due to management changes; balance sheet write-offs for some fixed assets and receivables; as well as higher than anticipated sales, marketing, and R&D expenses.
The company’s losses for the quarter in fact totaled 21 cents per share, or $4.2 million, compared to 61 cents per share, or $2.5 million, in the first quarter of 2000. This figure met Wall Street’s revised expectation of 21 cents per share, according to a poll of three brokers conducted by FirstCall/Thomson Financial.
Informax said it estimates to post losses of between 62 and 68 cents per share for the year. But the company still believes it will become profitable by the fourth quarter of 2002.
As of March 31, the company reported $75.5 million in cash and cash equivalents in the bank.
"Looking forward, we expect to continue to build on our leadership position in the dynamic markets for the enterprise and desktop bioinformatics software solutions,” said Titomirov. “Given our strong balance sheet, with a cash position of over $75 million, combined with a broad product line and customer base, we plan to move aggressively during the balance of 2001 to grow our business through new product releases and establishing alliances with other major players in the life sciences sector. In addition, we are working diligently towards profitability as we leverage our investment in sales and R&D talent and infrastructure."