Richmond, CA October 31, 2002 QRS, a provider of solutions for the retail supply chain, this week reported a narrow profit for the third quarter and predicted that it would remain in the black in the fourth quarter despite a year-on-year drop in revenues.
The 14-year-old software company, which announced a restructuring and 10 percent layoffs last December, reported that net income for the latest quarter was $600,000, compared with a net loss of $2.4 million for the previous quarter and a loss of $15.2 million for the year-ago period.
Total revenues for the company came in at $33.5 million for the third quarter, compared to revenues of $35.1 million for the second quarter and $35.8 million for the third quarter of last year.
Revenues from software applications, including both enterprise and hosted applications, were $8.6 million for the third quarter, down from $9.3 million for the second quarter and $9.0 million for the third quarter of last year. QRS attributed the results for the latest quarter to the impact of an anticipated business consolidation within the May Company department store chain.
QRS said it secured wins and agreement extensions with more than 90 retailers and suppliers across multiple retail verticals during the third quarter, including Conair, OshKosh B'Gosh, Longs Drugs and Guess?.
Liz Fetter, president and CEO of QRS, said in a statement that the company would keep up its focus on cost management. "We will continue to demonstrate operational discipline as we pursue our plans for future growth," Fetter said.
In announcing its third quarter results, the company said it expects to maintain profitability in the fourth quarter. Revenues for the full year 2002 are expected to be approximately 5 percent below 2001 revenues, and QRS expects to end 2002 with cash balances in line with where it began the year.
The software company recently upgraded its trading community management services with the launch of QRS Compliance Link, a Web-based solution designed to automate and expedite the process of building a trading community within the retail supply chain.
QRS' third quarter report comes in the wake of mixed results announced last week by a host of supply chain solution providers, including Ariba and Commerce One, and announcements the previous week from industry heavyweights IBM, i2, PeopleSoft, SAP and Siebel.
http://www.isourceonline.com/article.asp?article_id=2103
Restructuring at QRS
By Editorial Staff
Richmond, CA ó December 13, 2001 ó QRS, a provider of solutions for the retail supply chain, is consolidating its product line and cutting 10 percent of its workforce as part of a restructuring announced Thursday.
The company said in a statement that it would incorporate certain product functionalities of its Tradeweave Sales and Inventory Analysis, Logistics and Outsourcing solutions into expanded QRS applications and phase out those products as separate offerings.
The company said it would assist users of products that are being phased out through a transition to appropriate new solutions.
QRS said the product line consolidation would allow the company to allocate additional resources to areas that customers have identified as most critical to their operations and also result in savings of approximately $2 million in 2002 for QRS.
In addition to cutting its full-time staff by 10 percent, QRS also said it would consolidate real estate in California, New York and New Jersey, resulting in savings of $2 million to $3 million in 2002.
QRS said in its statement that it expects to take a fourth-quarter charge of $7 million to $10 million in conjunction with the restructuring.
Finally, the company revised downward its revenue outlook for the fourth quarter 2001 to between $35 million and $38 million, and for the full year to between $143 million and $146 million.
http://www.isourceonline.com/article.asp?article_id=3103
Enabling the Retail Supply Chain
By Editorial Staff
Richmond, CA ó October 9, 2002 ó QRS Corp., a provider of solutions for the extended supply chain, has upgraded its trading community management services with the launch of QRS Compliance Link, a Web-based solution designed to automate and expedite the process of building a trading community within the retail supply chain.
QRS said that Compliance Link is designed to help companies achieve a quicker return on their technology investments by making it faster and easier for companies to begin transacting business electronically with their entire trading community using the QRS Exchange suite of solutions.
Compliance Link gives retailers the ability to monitor in real time the status of suppliers in their trading community and offers suppliers tools to automate many of their processes, the solution provider said.
"With QRS Compliance Link, retailers have greater visibility into their supply chain processes, while suppliers are empowered to serve themselves," said Joyce Kim, senior vice president of marketing for QRS. "It's a solution that benefits all members of the trading community, facilitating communication, establishing uniform standards and driving efficiencies across the extended supply chain."
Compliance Link features include community administration and tracking, which helps manage many trading partners from a single location ó including each partner's profile, status, active programs, registered users and associated activities ó through a Web browser interface.
Program management features enable users to manage and launch programs, specify steps, notify trading partners, provide guidelines for reference and monitor the progress of each partner throughout the lifecycle of the program. Online transaction testing provides user-defined specifications, including business rules made available to review and download by partners, while standards and specification development uses the standards repository, ensuring each trading partner has access to the latest community standards and specifications.
Compliance Link helps suppliers understand what their retail trading partners' requirements are for transacting business electronically and lets them choose the appropriate communications solution to do so, QRS said.
Revenues for Trading Community Management were $18.8 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2002, compared to $18.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2002, and $20.0 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2001. Revenues for Global Services were $6.1 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2002, compared to $7.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2002, and $6.9 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2001.
The Company also reported a gross margin of 48% for the quarter ended September 30, 2002. This gross margin compares to a gross margin of 45% for the quarter ended June 30, 2002, and a gross margin of 36% for the quarter ended September 30, 2001.
Operating expenses for the quarter ended September 30, 2002 fell to $15.6 million, compared to $18.2 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2002, and $33.9 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2001. Cash and marketable securities decreased by $2.3 million during the quarter ended September 30, 2002 to $37.4 million due to several expected one-time payments.
