The following e-mail will be sent on your behalf.

 has sent the following story to you from ElectricNews.net.

The story is available from https://electricnews.net/news.html?code=8371762

Lionbridge boosts revenue estimates
Monday, July 29 2002
by Matthew Clark


Lionbridge delayed the release of its second quarter results on Friday, offering
instead a trading update with optimistic forecasts. 

Lionbridge Technologies, a localisation and globalisation company, said it
expects revenues to come in between USD29.1 million and USD29.8 million for the
quarter, compared to revenue of USD22.7 million for the second quarter of 2001
and revenue of USD24.9 million for Q1 2002. This range is also higher than the
USD28 million figure Lionbridge chief executive officer Rory Cowan forecast in
May at the company's annual shareholder meeting. 



In its most recent forecast, the firm said it expects earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the range of USD400,000 to
USD1.3 million, or a net loss of between USD600,000 and USD1.5 million on a GAAP
basis for the quarter. This equates to a loss of between USD0.02 and USD0.03 per
share, compared to a per-share loss of USD0.27 in the same period a year ago.
While the EBITDA earnings forecast is within Cowan's May forecast, GAAP earnings
appear to be slightly worse than his AGM prediction of near breakeven. 



Investors responded warmly to the positive outlook from the Massachusetts-based
firm as shares climbed by around 8 percent to close at USD1.35 in New York.
Volume was high as well with 32,600 shares trading hands, significantly above
Lionbridge's average daily volume of 27,443. 



"With the strongest financial and operational performance of our globalisation,
testing and development businesses in the company's history, we are estimating
record organic quarter-on-quarter revenue and earnings growth for the core
business," said Cowan on Friday. "As part of our decision to exit the
ChinaConnect business, we are looking at the realisability of certain receivables
and work-in-process associated with select ChinaConnect customers."



Indeed, the ChinaConnect subsidiary was the reason why the company was forced to
delay the release of its latest set of results. Lionbridge said it needed to
complete the financial review associated with the decision during the quarter to
transform Beijing-based ChinaConnect into a VeriTest offshore testing and
development centre. Previously the ChinaConnect business had focused on
developing middleware for the wireless sector, but because the unit was only
responsible for 3 percent of Lionbridge's 2001 revenues, these non-core
operations were dumped and now the infrastructure in Beijing will be used to
expand the VeriTest testing business.



The firm also published some other strong numbers, claiming it had unrestricted
cash of approximately USD12.1 million, net accounts receivable of approximately
USD16.5 million, and ending work-in-process estimated at USD6.1 million.
Collectively these assets increased by approximately USD7 million from the
previous quarter. What's more, revenue from the company's top 25 customers grew
by over 20 percent during the quarter versus the prior quarter. 



The firm said its full results should be available on 14 August. Twenty percent
of Lionbridge's global workforce, or around 200 employees, are based in Ireland,
with facilities in Dublin, Mayo and Galway.