DESCARTES SEES FISCAL 1ST-QUARTER LOSS DESPITE RECORD REVENUE

DESCARTES SEES FISCAL 1ST-QUARTER LOSS DESPITE RECORD REVENUE    Descartes, the developer of business-to-business electronic commerce services for Internet fulfillment, reported a lost of $12.3 million for its fiscal first quarter, ending April 30, despite seeing record revenue.
   The first-quarter loss compares with a loss of $23.5 million in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year.
   Descartes said operating profit, net profit before non-operating charges including acquisition-related expenses, was $4.5 million, compared with $4 million in the year-earlier period. The per-share revenue of 9 cents was 2 cents better than analysts projections.
   Total revenue rose 73 percent to 23.4 million. Excluding the legacy direct store and delivery operations, license and network revenue increased 102 percent over the year-earlier quarter.
   Total license and network revenue jumped 132 percent to $20.5 million, or 150 percent excluding the legacy store delivery operations.
   Total network revenue climbed 152 percent to $7.8 million.
   Also Wednesday, Descartes said CVS Corp., the large prescription retailer, had selected the company's Global Logistics Service Network to optimizes its retail distribution network nationwide. During the first quarter, Descartes also struck deals with Genistic, IKEA and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia.