Agency.com Falls on Restructuring

Agency.com (Nasdaq: ACOM) fell 7/8 to 3 Friday after the company announced a restructuring that includes the closing of its office in Vail, Colorado and lowered its projections for fourth-quarter earnings.

The New York-based Internet consultant said the restructuring involves 190 layoffs, resulting in a charge of US$11 million to $14 million to fourth-quarter results.

The cuts will save $12 million to $16 million in 2001, the company said.

"We are taking this opportunity to realign our business to respond to the rapidly changing demand environment for Internet consulting services," said chairman and chief executive officer Chan Suh.

The company said revenue for the fourth quarter will likely total $56 million to $58 million, with earnings before extraordinary items of 4 to 7 cents per share. Before the announcement, analysts had expected per-share earnings of 7 cents.

In 2001, the company said, revenue should grow by 23 to 27 percent, with earnings per share growth of between 30 and 35 percent.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs and ING Barings had reportedly cut their investment ratings on Agency.com in the days before the announcement.

The company is not the first Internet consultant to be hit this quarter by softening demand for Internet consulting. MarchFIRST, Viant, Scient, and a slew of other firms are suffering as dot-com clients, formerly big spenders, pinch their advertising dollars or go out of business, and others cut back on advertising expenditures.

In the third quarter, Agency.com said revenue rose 90 percent from a year earlier, with a net loss of $39,000, or breakeven per share. The company said 98 percent of revenue during the quarter came from clients that are not dot-coms.