Viasoft Inc, the Phoenix-based software maintenance and year 2000 company, has pre-announced its less than excellent first quarter results which will miss the consensus of expectations by a mile. The company said it will also lay off 10% of its employees, around 50 staff, taking a related charge of $4.5m in the quarter. Excluding this reorganization charge and other, acquisition related charges, Viasoft said it expects to make a loss of between $0.04 and $0.08 per share compared with a consensus of estimates of a $0.21 per share profit. Consequently, the share price fell by 28%. Viasoft said its year 2000-related products had encountered severe competition which had slowed its sales. The company said the reorganization charge was aimed at focusing the company on its non-year 2000 products.
