Exhibit 99.1
PERSISTENCE SOFTWARE ANNOUNCES
FIRST QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS
SAN MATEO, CALIF. -- APRIL 24, 2003 -- Persistence(R) Software (NASDAQ:
PRSW), a provider of data services software for distributed data access and
management, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March
31, 2003.
For the quarter, revenues were $2,523,000, compared with $2,161,000 for
the first quarter of 2002. The Company reported a net loss of $1,008,000, or
$(0.04) per share, compared with a net loss of $3,309,000, or $(0.16) per share
for the same period last year. The Company reported a 35 percent decrease in
operating expenses, compared to the first quarter of last year. Cash balances at
March 31, 2003 were $7,101,000 compared to $7,189,000 for the same period last
year.
Revenues for the prior quarter, ended December 31, 2002, were
$2,551,000 with a net loss of $1,897,000 or $(0.09) per share.
During the quarter, the Company closed several new EdgeXtend clients,
including a major content management company and an international real-time
project management firm.
Christopher Keene, chief executive officer of Persistence Software,
Inc., commented, " Although economic conditions remain challenging, we saw clear
validation in Q1 that increasing the number of customer pilots is the key to
growing revenue. We performed more pilots in the last three months than we did
in all of 2002. Even better, two of those pilots turn into revenue during the
quarter."
Mr. Keene continued, "During the first quarter, we tightened our
strategic focus to address critical business problems in the financial and
transportation markets. In the financial market, we position EdgeXtend Data
Services as a way to meet the regulatory requirements of the Patriot Act for
better aggregation of counterparty reference data. In the transportation market,
we position EdgeXtend as a way to improve operating efficiency with continuously
up-to-date distribution of scheduling data."
Mr. Keene concluded, "Last year we announced a sale of EdgeXtend for
IBM Websphere to Fiducia, the IT provider for hundreds of German banks.
Fiducia's application is now going into deployment and they are beginning to
realize significant cost and performance benefits delivered by EdgeXtend.
Earlier this week, we issued a press release in which both the Chief Software
Architect of Fiducia and the IBM Websphere Vice President spoke publicly for the
first time about their reasons for choosing EdgeXtend. We believe the success of
the Fiducia branch banking renewal project marks an important validation of the
strategy we have pursued since last year of partnering with market leaders such
as IBM."
"Our disciplines in spending resulted in a 35 percent reduction in
operating expenses compared to the first quarter of 2002," commented Christine
Russell, Persistence's chief financial officer. "We ended the quarter with a
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cash position of more than $7 million on hand, and receivables increased nearly
60 percent while deferred revenue stayed relatively flat compared to the prior
quarter. Our gross margin at 81 percent for the quarter exceeded the 79 percent
we posted for the full year 2002, which is a positive. We will continue to
carefully manage our cash and our expenses as we navigate these challenging
economic conditions."
THE COMPANY WILL DISCUSS THESE RESULTS IN A CONFERENCE CALL SCHEDULED
FOR 4:15 P.M. EASTERN APRIL 24, 2003. INTERESTED PARTIES CAN ACCESS THE CALL BY
DIALING (800) 289-0436 OR BY ACCESSING THE WEB CAST AT WWW.PERSISTENCE.COM. A
REPLAY OF THE CALL WILL BE AVAILABLE AT (719) 457-0820, ACCESS NUMBER 408958,
FOR 3 DAYS FOLLOWING THE CALL; AND THE WEB CAST CAN BE ACCESSED AT
WWW.PERSISTENCE.COM. THE FINANCIAL AND OTHER STATISTICAL INFORMATION DISCUSSED
DURING THE CONFERENCE CALL CAN BE ACCESSED AT WWW.PERSISTENCE.COM.
ABOUT PERSISTENCE
Persistence Software provides a data services infrastructure that
brings vital business information to global decision makers without the expense
of replicated data centers. Global 2000 corporations can cost-effectively
deliver vital information to professionals throughout the enterprise so actions
can be taken to streamline business processes, improve supply chain management,
boost employee productivity, enhance customer relationships and heighten levels
of customer satisfaction. Persistence's innovative product family provides an
improvement in the quality of the user experience by maintaining data integrity
and accuracy at multiple levels throughout the enterprise without replicating
databases. Customers of Persistence experience greater access to accurate
information, quicker response times, improved productivity and increased
scalability, all for lower cost than was previously possible. Persistence is the
supplier to many Fortune 2000 companies who have complex, data-intensive
applications that must support real-time decision making in many locations.
Persistence Software's technology has been licensed to Cisco, Intel and Sun, and
major customers in 2002 include Cablevision, Salomon Smith Barney, Fiducia,
Motorola, i2 Technologies, Lucent, Nokia, EuroControl, Intershop, Applied
Biosystems, Wells Fargo, Reuters and Kinetech. Persistence Software is
headquartered in San Mateo, California. Please visit http://www.persistence.com
for more information.
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Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in
this press release are forward-looking statements involving risks and
uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those
in such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, Persistence Software's limited operating history;
potential fluctuations in our operating results; our potential need to raise
cash in the future; uncertainties related to our long sales cycle; our reliance
on a relatively small number of customers; our dependence on revenues from
EdgeXtend, which was only released in 2002; our dependence on the Java
programming language and the Enterprise JavaBeans standard becoming widely
accepted standards; our need to manage our resources or attract and retain the
services of key employees; our need to deliver products that are free of defects
and errors and meet rapidly changing technology standards and customer
requirements; our need to build a strong direct sales team and develop third
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party sales channels; our dependence on enterprise-wide system deployments; and
our need to address competition from companies with substantially greater
resources. Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties
is included in our annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,
2002 and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
-Financial tables follow-
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PERSISTENCE SOFTWARE, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
( In thousands, except per share amounts )
THREE MONTHS ENDED
(Unaudited)
MAR. 31, MAR. 31,
2003 2002
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Revenues:
Licenses $ 1,294 $ 833
Service 1,229 1,328
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Total revenues 2,523 2,161
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Cost of revenues:
Licenses 3 27
Service 477 768
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Total cost of revenues 480 795
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Gross profit 2,043 1,366
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Operating expenses:
Sales and marketing 1,531 2,434
Research and development 849 1,118
General and administrative 643 927
Amortization of purchased intangibles 36 212
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Total operating expenses 3,059 4,691
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Loss from operations (1,016) (3,325)
Interest and other income, net 8 16
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Net loss $ (1,008) $ (3,309)
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Basic and diluted net loss per share $ (0.04) $ (0.16)
Shares used in calculating basic and
diluted net loss per share 24,046 20,089
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PERSISTENCE SOFTWARE, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
( In thousands )
AS OF
(Unaudited)
MAR. 31, DEC. 31,
2003 2002
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Assets:
Current assets:
Cash, cash equivalents $ 7,101 $ 8,903
Accounts receivable, net 1,995 1,252
Prepaids and other current assets 236 392
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Total current assets 9,332 10,547
Property and equipment, net 290 375
Purchased intangibles, net 87 123
Deposits and other assets 55 55
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Total assets $ 9,764 $ 11,100
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Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity:
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable $ 293 $ 325
Accrued liabilities 1,796 1,910
Deferred revenues (net of long term portion) 2,584 2,529
Current portion of long-term obligations 780 841
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Total current liabilities 5,453 5,605
Long-term liabilities
Long-term portion of deferred revenues 534 691
Long-term obligations 64 93
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Total long-term liabilities 598 784
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Total liabilities 6,051 6,389
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Stockholders' equity:
Common stock, net 66,089 66,072
Accumulated deficit (62,377) (61,370)
Other 1 9
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Total stockholders' equity 3,713 4,711
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Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 9,764 $ 11,100
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