Sonic Foundry expects break-even this year

Madison, Wis. — Sonic Foundry said its revenues for the quarter ended December 31 were up 18 percent year-to-year. The firm took in $1.9 million for the quarter, compared to $1.6 million a year ago.

A company statement said revenue is expected to pick up later this year and projected cashflow break-even sometime in the next three quarters.

For now, losses expanded slightly: the company's net loss was $1.6 million for the quarter, compared to $1.4 million a year ago. In a statement, Sonic Foundry said this is a seasonally slow quarter The firm also had to record $182,000 worth of stock options as an expense under new accounting rules.

Opportunities for the company include:

• Rapidly growing customer base. Sonic Foundry said it had 491 customers at the end of last year, up almost 80 percent from a year ago. New customers include large institutions such as Carnegie Mellon and corporations such as Merck. • New role as a supplier to Dell's education channel as part of the firm's "intelligent classroom" marketing project.

• Doubled customer support revenues. In the first quarter, support brought in $415,000, up from $189,000 a year ago.

• Shipment of a server software product, EX Server, for enterprise customers late in the quarter.