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EXHIBIT 99.1
Press Release Dated September 5, 2000
Investor Contact: Suzanne DuLong or Jessica Towns
CIENA Corporation
(888) 243-6223
email: [email protected]
Press Contact: Denny Bilter or Aaron Graham
CIENA Corporation
(877) 857-7377
email: [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CIENA TO RECORD CHARGE IN FISCAL FOURTH QUARTER AGAINST RECEIVABLE; NO CHANGE TO
CIENA'S FUTURE REVENUE EXPECTATIONS
Linthicum, Md. - September 5, 2000 - CIENA Corporation (Nasdaq: CIEN), today
announced that it has been informed that an administration order has been
issued by a London court against iaxis Limited, one of CIENA's European
customers. An administration order is similar to a filing for reorganization in
the U.S. As a result of this order, up to $28.2 million in net accounts
receivable currently owed CIENA from this customer may be uncollectible, and
CIENA therefore expects to record a one-time charge related to a provision for
doubtful accounts in its fourth fiscal quarter ending October 31, 2000.
Iaxis Limited is the optical networking customer that CIENA disclosed as having
financial difficulties in CIENA's Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on August 17, 2000. As was disclosed in the Form 10-Q, net
outstanding receivables from iaxis represented approximately 13 percent of
CIENA's net receivables as of July 31, 2000, or approximately $28.2 million.
CIENA previously had been informed that iaxis was working toward a sale of the
company and received information about the administration order yesterday.
CIENA had no projections of future revenues from iaxis, either in the current
quarter or in future quarters, and at this time believes that its accounts
receivables from its other customers are fully collectible in accordance with
their recorded amounts. In addition, this event does not impact CIENA's
previously announced expectations for future revenue growth.
The impact of the charge on CIENA's net earnings per diluted share in its fourth
fiscal quarter is expected to be up to approximately $0.13, or $0.06 on a
post-split basis. CIENA has previously announced a two for one stock split
payable on September 18, 2000.
"This situation is the result of issues particular to a single customer and is
not indicative of our outlook for the optical networking industry," said Patrick
Nettles, CIENA's president and chief executive officer. "While disappointing,
this event does not change our outlook for continued robust sales growth across
our intelligent optical networking product lines."
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ABOUT CIENA
CIENA Corporation's market-leading intelligent optical networking systems form
the core for the new era of networks and services worldwide. CIENA's
LightWorks(tm) architecture enables next-generation optical services and changes
the fundamental economics of service-provider networks by simplifying the
network and reducing the cost to operate it. Additional information about CIENA
can be found at <http://www.ciena.com>.
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NOTE TO INVESTORS
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current
expectations, forecasts and assumptions of the Company that involve risks and
uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this release, including, but not
limited to, the Company's outlook for the optical networking industry and for
continued robust sales growth across our intelligent optical networking product
lines, the Company's expectation that the event will not impact CIENA's future
revenue growth, our belief that our accounts receivables from other customers
are fully collectible in accordance with their recorded amounts and the expected
accounting treatment and accounting impact of the event are based on information
available to the Company as of the date hereof. The Company's actual results
could differ materially from those stated or implied in such forward-looking
statements, due to risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's
business, which include the risk factors disclosed in the Company's Report on
Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 17, 2000.
Forward looking statements include statements regarding the Company's
expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be
identified by forward looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could,"
"estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar
words. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information included in
this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
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