Two developers of Web-based customer service software, LivePerson Inc. and eGain Communications Corp., both reported earnings this week, with both companies cutting their losses significantly. LivePerson even managed to show a slight uptick in revenues.
New York City-based LivePerson saw revenues go up to $2.2 million from $1.7 million in last years third quarter. The company nearly turned a profit on those revenues, losing just $28,000 after a $13.7 million loss in the same period a year ago.
“We exceeded growth expectations from the beginning of the quarter, and we expect an improving sales pipeline going forward,” said Robert LoCascio, CEO of LivePerson, in a statement. LoCascio said LivePerson had better sales visibility and was expecting sequential revenue growth of 5 percent in the fourth quarter and annual revenue growth of 12 percent in 2003.
Things werent quite so rosy at online customer service pioneer eGain, though its revenues still dwarf LivePersons. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company saw revenues fall year-to-year, from $8 million to $5.7 million, though most of that fall-off came from hosting and services revenues. License revenues remained nearly constant at $1.8 million.
The company did manage to cut its net loss though from $28.4 million to $6.4 million. EGain also announced that its stock would be transferred to the Nasdaq Small Cap market as of Nov. 5.