Excite Inc came in with fourth quarter and year-end figures on target as far as the Street was concerned, in what it is likely to be the company’s last set of published figures as an independent company. On Tuesday it announced that it was to be acquired by internet-over-cable provider @Home Networks Inc in a $6.7bn stock swap. That didn’t warrant a mention in yesterday’s blurb accompanying the solid, if uninspiring numbers, because it happened after the quarter closed. The company concentrated instead on its strong cash flow generated in the quarter. Excite recorded fourth quarter net losses of $5.8m, including $829,000 in merger-relate costs and $7.6m in amortized payments to Netscape Communications Corp from the deal last year whereby Excite agreed to pay Netscape $70m up-front for the privilege of providing a search engine and content to Netcenter. Without those charges and costs, earnings per share would have been four cents, which is just what Wall Street was looking for, according to First Call. Revenues in the quarter were up 163.3% to $54.1m. Cash flow during the three months was $25m, increasing cash balances by $21m in the quarter to finish at $61.6m. Day sales outstanding improved by 15 says to 61 days. Page views in December rose 15% over September to an average of 58 million per day, compared to Yahoo’s average of 167 million in December (01/13/99). Registered users were up 40% in the three months to 20 million, boosted by MatchLogic’s opt-in registrations. For the year the company recorded net losses of $36.9m, including charges of $4.9m and Netscape costs of $17.7m, down from losses in 1997 of $41.4m, after charges of $4.0m. Revenues for the year rose 184.8% to $154.1m.
