Freemarkets shines a ray of hope on B2B sector

NEWS While Telecoms and PC markets slow, almost to a halt, the B2B sector continues to invest in technology, in spite of company closures and consolidation. B2B firm Freemarkets has reported narrowed second quarter losses and issued an upbeat outlook for the rest of the year. Revenue for Q2 was $37.6m, a 94 per cent increase on the same quarter last year, and a 14 per cent sequential rise on first quarter revenue. Net losses of $6.6m, or 17 cents a share beat Wall Street analysts' expectations by five cents a share. Loss for the same quarter last year was 24 cents a share. In a conference call yesterday, Freemarket's CFO said the company expected losses to continue falling as costs were closely watched. The company now expects losses of 11 cents a share in the third quarter and five cents a share in the fourth quarter. Total loss for the year - excluding costs - is forecast to be 57 cents a share. An operational profit target has been set for the first quarter of 2002.