Netbenefit revenue falls, losses increase

Netbenefit - the Internet business services outfit that's big into domain name management and web hosting services - remains upbeat today despite reporting falling sales and increased losses.

Turnover for the year to June 30 2001 slid to £6.4 million from £7.5 million the year before.

Pre-tax losses for the year increased from £4.6 million in 2000 to £21.7 million this year.

The operating loss for the year was £3.8 million before the write-off of acquired goodwill of £18 million, the company said.

Around two thirds of the company's revenue is made up by domain name registrations.

But with the mass market for domain name registrations plummeting during the first three quarters of the year it said this "disappointing performance" is reflected in the company's operating loss, the company said.

That said, Netbenefit reckons this market has now stabilised and is now more optimistic about its future.

Restructuring during March and April this year - including shedding around a third of its staff - helped reduce overheads and has reduced cash burn to almost zero in current business activities.

At the end of June Netbenefit had £1.4 million in the bank.

On Monday former Reuters man, Geoffrey Wicks, will become the new CEO of Netbenefit. He will replace company founder, Jonathan Robinson, who becomes Director of Business Development. ®