Three direct marketers of personal computers and related products released their financial results yesterday.
Creative Computers Inc., Torrance, CA, reported a net loss of $5.6 million on net sales of $190.4 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 1998, compared with net income of $1 million on net sales of $177.7 million for the same period in the previous year.
For the year, Creative Computers reported a net loss of $17.8 million on net sales of $690.2 million, compared with net income of $4.1 million on net sales of $546.1 million in 1997.
Revenues from Creative’s auction business, uBid, grew to $24.1 million for the quarter, achieving a 58% sequential growth rate. Creative’s PC Mall (http://www.pcmall.com), MacMall (http://www.macmall.com) and ComputAbility (http://www.computability.com) Web sites also experienced revenue growth, up 25% from the previous quarter and 114% over the same period last year.
Catalog in-bound sales were relatively flat as advertising expenditures were reduced by 16% to help fund out-bound sales efforts.
Multiple Zones International Inc., Renton, WA, reported net income of $519,000 on net sales of $146.4 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 1998, compared with net income of $466,000 on net sales of $143.5 million for the same period in the previous year.
For the year, Multiple Zones had a net loss of $8.3 million on net sales of $501.4 million, compared with a net loss of $5.4 million on net sales of $490 million in 1997.
Outbound sales to business and public sector accounts in the fourth quarter were $50.2 million, representing a 9.3% sequential increase and a 23.3% increase over the prior year quarter (excluding $9.2 million in fourth quarter 1997 sales to corporate resellers, which have been discontinued). For the year ended December 31, 1998, continuing outbound sales rose 22.2% to $176.3 million from $144.3 million in the prior year.
PC Connection Inc., Merrimack, NH, reported net income of $5 million on net sales of $220.3 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 1998, compared with net income of $2.8 million on net sales of $167.1 million for the same period in the previous year.
For the year, net income was $18.6 million on net sales of $732.4 million, compared with net income of $5.2 million on net sales of $550.6 million in 1997.
