Intesa, the Venezuelan subsidiary of San Diego, California-based SAIC will file for bankruptcy following the cancellation of its main project for government owned petroleum manufacturer PDVSA. Intesa made revenue of $215m in the full year ended January 31, 2003, which was down 33% on the previous year, and it made a net loss of $261,000 compared to a net profit of $7m in 2002.
However, in a statement at the time, SAIC said: Recent political and economic events in Venezuela have impacted the operations of the company’s joint venture, Intesa…Consequently, Intesa has been classified as a discontinued operation.
Intesa was set up in January 1997 as a joint venture between SAIC and PDVSA to provide IT services to the Latin American market. However, the company has remained heavily reliant on its initial project with PDVSA where it makes 85% of its revenue. Continuing political instability in the market resulted in a strike in Venezuela in December 2002, where Intesa employees were physically blocked from entering the premises. Intesa has reportedly lost some $50m through unpaid fees from PDSVA, and as a result SAIC said it had affectively closed the operation down.
The turmoil at the Intesa operation has not dampened SAIC’s progress in the US market however. This week, the company also signed one of its largest ever contracts, a multi-billion dollar deal with aircraft manufacturer Boeing, to provide network management, application development and support and computer engineering services as part of its $14.9bn contract with the US Army’s Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) contract for its Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. The project will involve the development and support of some 19 systems around the network, over seven years.
Source: Computerwire
