GERMANY, Feb. 22. 2001 (PRIMEZONE) - Brainpower N.V.
-- Revenue in the fourth quarter was Euro 1,254,950, representing an
increase of 173% over last year's fourth quarter revenues of Euro
459,584.
-- Revenue for the twelve month period ended December 31, 2000, was
3,630,864, representing an increase of 126% over 1999 revenues of
1,608,187.
-- Brainpower's total backlog of revenue booked was 8.8 million for
contracts with an average contractual period of 2-3 years.
-- The total backlog of revenue to be recognized in 2001 totals
4.2 million, of which EUR 3.05 million included intranet contracts
and 1.1 million included internet contracts.
-- Internet revenues accounted for 47% of total revenues in the
fourth quarter. This represents a 141% increase in internet
revenues over the third quarter.
-- Brainpower continues to sign a number of extremely prestigious
deals, including: Italia OnLine, y-o-u.com, HSBC, ABN-AMRO, IMI
Web, Banca Mediolanum, BBVA and others.
-- Third party alliances are a key focus area. Distribution agreement
signed with Lipper in January 2001 demonstrates this key area for
distribution of Brainpower products.
-- Better market segmentation of internet products tailored to e-
brokers, e-banks, funds-supermarkets and private banking is
gaining higher momentum for internet deals.
-- High level sales managers were added in Germany, Sweden and the
USA.
Please click on the link at the bottom to see the financial table as PDF:
Revenue Growth
Brainpower N.V., the Software Company specializing in e-finance and intranet financial applications to both online financial service providers and investment professionals, today announced higher fourth quarter revenues against the fourth quarter of 1999. For the three months ended December 31, 2000, the company's revenues were 1,254,950, representing an increase of 173% over last year's fourth quarter revenues of459,584. For the twelve-month period ended December 31, 2000, revenues were 3,630,864, representing an increase of 126% over 1999 revenues of 1,608,187.
As of December 31, 2000, Brainpower's total backlog of booked revenue was 8.8 million for contracts with an average remaining contractual period of 2-3 years. The total backlog of revenue to be recognized in 2001 is 4.2 million, of which 3.05 million included intranet contracts and 1.1 million included internet contracts.
Operating Expenses
For the year ended December 31, 2000, Brainpower's operating expenses increased to €6,031,175 from €2,841,961, in the prior year due to the progress in the expansion of the business. Research and development expenses during this period increased due to the amount of new developers hired - a total of 18 developers, primarily WEB developers to focus on the internet products. Sales and marketing expenses increased in this period due to the addition of 6 salespeople in offices throughout Europe and the U.S.A. At present, Brainpower has 33 sales & marketing and 37 research & development employees. General and administrative expenses increased in this period primarily due to the use of external consultants. In addition, depreciation and amortization expense increased due to capitalized software, the purchase of computers and other tangible fixed assets and from an increase in goodwill resulting from the purchase of the remaining 10% in Brainpower's Italian subsidiary, now 100% owned.
Balance Sheet
Overall, as of December 31, 2000, Brainpower had a strong cash and cash equivalents position of approximately €25.3 million to continue to execute the business plan objectives. The accumulated deficit was €7.6 million, reflecting the losses due to the expansion achieved in the year against total equity of €26.4 million, further reflecting a strong balance sheet.
Strategic Alliances in the U.S.A and Germany - A Key Focus Area
"Third party distribution alliances will continue to be a key focus area for Brainpower to enable the products to become a standard in the industry. The Lipper deal is a continuation of this execution effort" said CEO, Rocco Pellegrinelli and added "NetXceed for Funds Supermarkets is aimed at professionals supplying an online service to private investors, for instance, e-brokers, e-banks and online financial service providers. Brainpower's clients will benefit from Lipper's comprehensive database for funds, which include many more Unit Trusts than most competitive products, via a unique blend of in-depth quantitative analysis and professional report presentation". Target distribution partnerships will be focused in the U.S.A and Germany; and, to ensure the fast implementation of third party distribution alliances, Brainpower has added a new department, "Business Development", to focus on distribution alliances.
Market Segmentation
"Better market segmentation of internet products tailored to e-brokers, e-banks, funds-supermarkets and online private banking is gaining higher momentum for internet deals", said Rocco Pellegrinelli and added "The new segmentation of NetXceed makes it possible to better tailor the content of the products for faster implementation. This has been reduced from 60 to less than 20 days". This consolidates Brainpower as a "one-stop-shop" in e-finance application providers in the world, which are able to offer solutions in the areas of e-trading and e-advisory.
Brainpower Signs Prestigious Deals
Brainpower continues to sign a number of extremely prestigious deals including: Italia OnLine, y-o-u.com, HSBC, ABN-AMRO, IMI Web, Banca Mediolanum, BBVA and others. "By adding clients of the calibre of HSBC Investment Bank and ABN-AMRO Management Services to our blue chip client list - we continue to demonstrate that Brainpower is becoming more and more the standard for investment decision support software amongst the leading players of the asset management world" - said Rocco Pellegrinelli, CEO. Brainpower also had Swiss Life, the most experienced and largest life insurance company in Switzerland, select NetXceed to power the website of their online bank - redsafe.com - with sophisticated investment analysis tools. Selftrade also selected Brainpower NetXceed to enhance website content for private investors and San Paolo IMI Bank selected Brainpower to form the platform for the information rich section on funds within the site.
Expansion Continues
Brainpower continues its European expansion with the appointment in November 2000 of Jim Barton, as Vice President for Europe to spearhead Brainpower's aggressive expansion plans for the region. Key country offices expanded and opened in the U.S.A, Germany and Sweden continuing the direct sales and marketing effort. Brainpower now has 95 employees.
"This press release contains forward looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. The actual performance, results and timing of the business of Brainpower N.V. could differ materially from the performance, results and timing discussed in this press release. This press release is not distributed in or into the United States of America."