Transactive media group, Metropolis, will e-enable its non-Internet businesses or dispose of them. This follows Metropolis` posted interim results, which show its .com divisions reported the biggest growth.
Metropolis CEO Jason Xenopoulos says the growth in the company`s non-Internet divisions proved disappointing in the interim results to 31 December 1999 in comparison with the over 200% growth in the .com divisions.
According to Xenopoulos, Metropolis Internet divisions have reached critical momentum and the company intends to invest undiluted focus on these. Metropolis will focus on eliminating non-core, non-Internet activities from within the group by continuing to maximise integration or by ploughing the capital gained from the disposal of these companies into the faster growing vertical communities. This will be realised within the next three months.
VerticalNet, Metropolis` US-based partner, recently announced a strategic alliance with Microsoft, which will assist VerticalNet, and ultimately Metropolis, in delivering business-to-business e-commerce solutions to small and medium-sized companies.
Commenting on the deal, Xenopoulos says Metropolis can set up a vertical community within 30 days, making use of the specifically designed template supplied by VerticalNet. This translates into launching a vertical site every month. Xenopoulos is expecting 12 vertical communities up by June.
The company`s turnover for the six months under review amounted to R24.4 million. Although the 1998 interim results included only three months of trade, the company says that on a comparative six months pro-forma basis, turnover increased 94%. On the same basis, the company`s Internet business increased turnover by 209%.
Attributable loss for the period came in at R20.2 million, which the company says is in line with expectations. Reported figures translate to a headline loss per share of 19.1c.
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