first quarter of the fiscal year 2001.
First Ecom, which is still in development stage, posted revenues for the quarter of US$ 12,756 as compared with revenues for the same quarter in 2000 of US$ 4,802. This quarter's revenues are attributable solely to payment processing and represent 23.8 percent of the Company's total payment processing revenues since its inception on September 16, 1998.
Net loss for the first quarter of 2001 after amortization, depreciation and non-cash compensation associated with stock options was US$ 468,503 as compared to the first quarter of 2000 net loss of US$ 2,452,712. This is a
sizable improvement over the previous year.
Net loss per share for the quarter was US$ 0.02 per share as compared to the net loss per share of US$ 0.15 for the same quarter in 2000.
As of the end of the quarter, the Company had in excess of US $ 28,000,000 in cash and realized a 116 percent increase in interest income compared to the first quarter of 2000. This growth was due to the increase in cash balance of US$ 30.6 million from the private placement completed on March 6, 2000 and US$ 7.8 million from the exercise of warrants in July 2000.
"During the quarter, the Company's main objectives were to focus on its cost
reduction program and to determine the Company's priority initiatives in moving forward," said Gregory Pek, president and Co-CEO of First Ecom.
"This included conducting strategic assessments as to where the industry was going and what will be required for the Company's future success. There clearly have been some major changes in the past year that have had a major impact on the payment processing industry and we felt that simply following an old business model despite these changes would have been foolish.
Hopefully the steps we have taken over the last six months will be rewarding and help to differentiate our Company from others."
Pek added, "It has been a favorable quarter in that we are on track with our new initiatives to reduce burn rate, focus on sales in Asia, and implement our new Company structure. We are continuing to study other opportunities
for the Company, such as the recent announcement that we have entered into a memorandum of understanding with Gasco Energy, Inc. to merge. We are excited by this and other opportunities and are confident that these changes
will foster the Company's growth in 2001."
The Company's financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2001 accompanied the filing of its Form 10-Q with the Securities & Exchange
Commission on May 14, 2001, which is available on-line at the SEC's Edgar database at www.freeedgar.com.