GRAND RAPIDS A few hours before BestNet Communications Corp. announced its operations had lost three quarters of a million dollars in the third fiscal quarter of 2004, the Internet communications company also announced its board had accepted the resignation of CEO Robert Blanchard for unspecified reasons.
Blanchard will remain a director for a three month transition period. Replacing him will be Richard Bourke, the current chairman, who becomes interim CEO. Bourke is a General Partner of Katsinam Partners, LP, an investment fund focused on micro and small-cap public companies located in Scottsdale, AZ.
Blanchard, in a prepared statement, said: “It has been an honor and privilege to have the opportunity to provide leadership to BestNet during my tenure, and I look forward to assisting the company with the transition over the coming months.”
Bourke, in his own prepared statement, said the company will now expand its product offerings to emphasize seamless business-to-business solutions through its Application Program Interface. He also think BestNet is positioned to take advantage of the international convergence of wireless and fixed line services.
BestNet is a global solutions provider of long distance; conference calling, ClicktoPhone and custom application-based communication services. BestNet’s services are accessed worldwide via the Internet and wireless devices and are delivered using standard phone lines and equipment.
Meanwhile, BestNet reported its losses from operations in the third fiscal quarter of 2004 amounted to $773,473, down considerably from the $1.2 million third quarter loss of the third fiscal quarter in 2003. The heavy losses came despite a record third quarter revenue of $557,000.
The loss per common share was 3 cents basic and 6 cents fully diluted.
