Giving a glimpse of what its first-quarter financial results should look like two weeks early, RSA Security on Monday said that it expects to post a net loss of between $US14 million and $16 million for the first quarter of 2002.
A loss of that size for the quarter would translate to a per-share loss of between $0.24 and $0.28 on a diluted basis, the company said. For the first quarter of 2001, RSA posted net income of $8.8 million, or $0.14 per share on a diluted basis. The Massachusetts company also said that it expects to post a net loss from its core operating business, which excludes the RSA Capital wing of the company, of between $5 million and $7 million for the quarter, or $0.08 and $0.11 per share on a diluted basis. In the same quarter of 2001, the company posted net income of $9.6 million, or $0.16 per share on a diluted basis, for its core business.
At a conference call held early on Monday, RSA president and CEO Arthur Coviello blamed the down results on lower-than-expected IT spending for the quarter.
RSA also said that it expects to tally between $55 million and $56 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2002, down from $73.6 million in the first quarter of 2001. That figure is also down from the $63 million to $65 million in revenue for the quarter the company said it was expecting when it announced its fourth-quarter 2001 results in late January.
The company expects to take a charge of between $11 million and $14 million for the quarter for restructuring and amortisation costs.
RSA will announce its first-quarter results after the market closes on April 11.
RSA stock (Nasdaq: RSAS) is trading at $7.66, down $1.34, or nearly 15 per cent, in early morning trading.