Troubled storage outfit Syquest Technology Inc, which last week announced a massive restructuring that will see half of its staff moving on (CI No 3,470), has reported the poor third quarter numbers that it said it would. The Fremont, California-based company posted a net loss for the period of $42.5m after warning that operating losses would run slightly higher than last quarter’s $29.9m, when the company saw a net loss of $31.5m. Third-quarter operating loss was $32.6m, but the bottom line was also impacted by a $9.0m charge resulting from review in the company’s financing transactions. Revenue for the quarter was $44.7m, a 41.1% increase from the year-ago period, but a nearly 10% decline from the $47m posted last quarter. For the nine-month period, net loss came in at $110.8m on revenue up 27.9% at $123.8m, compared to a net loss of $51.2m last year. Syquest has been hit hard by a slump in the storage products market and has also been hurt by slower uptake of its SparQ drive – which it’s essentially betting the farm on – by OEM hardware suppliers. The company hopes the recent deal with Compaq Computer Corp will be the first significant partnership among many as it strives to compete in that space with rival Iomega Corp. The company already claims to be neck-and-neck with Iomega in the retail space, with a 50% market share, according to PC Data. The company has already warned that next quarter will look even worse than this one, with revenues down sequentially again and yet-to-be-determined charges associated with the restructuring.
