MarchFirst Revenue Up 45% In Second Quarter

MarchFirst Inc. (stock:MRCH) today marked its first full reporting quarter with steady revenue growth for the second quarter of 2000, which ended June 30. The E-services firm, spawned by the merger of Whittman-Hart and USWeb/CKS in March, saw second-quarter revenue increase 45% to $380.2 million from the combined Whittman-Hart and USWeb/CKS revenue of $262.5 million one year ago.

Quarter-to-quarter revenue increased 8% from the first quarter's $352 million. Supplemental net income rose 136% to $29.7 million, or 19 cents per share, from $12.6 million for the second quarter of 1999. This was 7% greater than supplemental net income for the first quarter.

The company attributes much of its growth this year to its integration of business strategy consultants, brand-building specialists, and technology architects within the same firm, which enables the expansion of relationships with their clients. Chairman and CEO Robert Bernard points to the success of HostOne, MarchFirst's enterprise application services business unit, as an example of how his company will continue to grow. During the second quarter, HostOne opened a monitoring and management facility and established a new partner program for independent software vendors.

MarchFirst may not have the highest growth rate among E-services companies such as Agency.com, AppNet, Proxicom, Scient, Viant, and Sapient, but you wouldn't expect this from a company that's already one of the biggest in the space, says Dirk Godsey, a senior analyst with Chase H&Q. What will keep MarchFirst growing steadily is the "Herculean" effort it has made toward merging Whittman-Hart and USWeb/CKS. Says Godsey, "The biggest challenge for MarchFirst is handling issues that may arise for the merger, especially the management of people and corporate cultures."