The net loss for the quarter was $119.6 million, or $(2.69) per share, which includes a one-time accounting loss of $45.3 million related to the company’s investment in Tradex. The cash loss of $33.1 million or $(.74) per share excludes the accounting loss, as well as non-cash losses related to minority investments and amortization. This loss was less than the First Call consensus estimate of $(.80). During the corresponding quarter in fiscal year 1999, the net loss was $12.5 million or $(2.86) per share.

Total transaction volume during the current quarter was $29.1 million, a nine percent increase from the previous quarter. The total transaction volume contributed to total revenues of $25.2 million, including gross revenue, agency fees and income from other services. This increase of more than 760 percent from the total revenues of $2.9 million recorded in the corresponding quarter in fiscal year 1999 is a direct result of strong customer growth. Gross profit grew to approximately $1.8 million, an increase of more than 1,000 percent from the corresponding quarter in fiscal year 1999 and an increase of approximately 40 percent from the previous quarter.

Our focus on managing gross margin dollars continues to allow us to exceed EPS expectations, said David Perry, Ventro’s president and CEO. While Chemdex revenues grew more slowly than last quarter, transactions and new customer growth continued as a result of our leadership in the life sciences marketplace. Promedix, our specialty medical products company, is well positioned for significant growth in the coming quarters. Additionally, we were pleased with this quarter’s services revenues which contributed to gross margin dollars and which will be increasingly important to our financial results going forward.

Our margin growth to more than seven percent this quarter is directly related to the evolution of our business model, which includes delivering value-added services to enhance the marketplace experience for customers, suppliers and other marketplace participants. For example, this past quarter, we were able to provide some of these value-added services to a key distributor and one of our large Fortune 500 customers in two of our marketplace companies, said Perry. Our thought leadership, first-mover advantage and business agility have positioned us well to continue to expand the revenue model, increase gross margin dollars and deliver a broader range of marketplace services.