Amidst losses, Corel cites 2001 as 'turning point'

Software publisher Corel Corp. Friday turned in its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2001 results, for the period ending November 30, 2001. The company's revenues for the year were US$134.3 million, producing a net loss of $7.3 million. Fourth quarter revenues totaled $31.6 million, producing a net loss of $10.7 million.

The quarterly loss is the first for last year -- previously, Corel turned in three consecutive profitable quarters. Although the company didn't turn a profit for either the quarter or the year, Corel noted that the results indicate a $48 million gain to their bottom line. Corel's 2000 numbers totaled $157.5 million in revenues and $55.3 million in losses.

Corel ended its fiscal year with $122.4 million in cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and restricted cash amounts. That's about $6.2 million less than the company ended with in 2000.

Corel CFO John Blaine said the company made "significant improvements" to its overall financial position last year. "While recent events and general economic conditions impacted our revenues during the fourth quarter of 2001, our strict cost controls, healthy cash position and strengthened balance sheet helped mitigate the impact of these external factors," said Blaine.

Corel president and CEO Derek Burney called 2001 "a turning point" for the company. He said that Corel consistently met milestones laid out for the first phase of its three-year growth strategy.

"We demonstrated we could operate the business profitably and introduced an unprecedented number of new products, including procreate, a brand new line of software for creative professionals," said Burney.

Corel is making a strong push on the Macintosh with products like Graphics Suite 10, CorelDraw 10, Corel Photo-Paint 10, KPT effects and KnockOut 2, all released during the fourth quarter of last year. All of the graphics products are optimized to work in Mac OS X, consistent with an announcement made by Corel that it plans to make all future Mac pro graphics applications for OS X. This has enabled Corel to distinguish itself from other more established graphics application publishers in the Mac market.

"2002 will see the company make further investments as we leverage this momentum and continue to deliver products designed around the needs of several clearly-defined market segments," said Burney.

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