The Woodlands, TX — April 30, 2003 — Pantellos, an independent electronic marketplace and supply chain services company for the utility and energy industries, today announced that it has posted its first positive quarterly earnings, excluding interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
The company is among the few electronic marketplaces to achieve an EBITDA-positive position, according to industry expert William Woods, author of B2B Exchanges 2.0: Not All e-Markets Are "Dot-bombs" and owner of b2bexchanges.com. "Pantellos is succeeding because of its diversified business model, its focus on supply chain excellence, and the momentum and value it has generated with its utility customers," said Woods.
For the calendar quarter ending March 31, 2003, the company posted revenue of more than $4.2 million. Further, Pantellos said it generated more than $27 million in customer-reported savings during the quarter on more than $217 million in utility spending. Since its inception, Pantellos stated it has enabled customer-reported savings of more than $175 million on more than $1.3 billion in utility spending, an average savings rate of 13.5 percent.
"We are pleased with our financial performance in the first quarter, but are no where near satisfied," said Jim Neikirk, president and CEO for Pantellos. "Moving forward, Pantellos will remain focused on helping our current customers achieve even more success and on expanding our customer base. We expect continued positive financial performance for the balance of the year."
Pantellos' first quarter results place the company ahead of its 2003 business plan. "Our business plan for 2003 shows the company becoming cash flow positive in the third quarter, and, with the strong financial results we have seen so far this year, we are well-positioned to reach that goal ahead of our initial targets," said James Hagemeier, vice president and chief financial officer for Pantellos.
These results reflect the utility industry's increasing desire to use electronic commerce tools and technologies to purchase goods and services. "There is no doubt that supply chain improvement and e-commerce practices are gaining significant traction in the utility industry," said Neikirk. "The current financial challenges within the industry have placed more emphasis on supply chain improvement than ever before. An increasing number of progressive utilities are responding by using e-commerce tools and technologies to squeeze costs out of their supply chains."
Pantellos reports increased customer activity in all its major lines of business, including marketplace (electronic procurement), auctions, supply management services and business process solutions.
"We have seen our utility customers become more engaged in a variety of supply chain and e-commerce initiatives, from online auctions to automating supply chain transactions and settlement." said Steve Newland, vice president of sales and marketing for Pantellos. "Ultimately, each of our customers is trying to reduce costs, become more efficient and offer more strategic value. Each utility's point of entry into e-commerce has been unique. Once they get started, we are seeing the scope of their activities grow as they achieve real results."
