First Ecom.com, Inc. Announces 2001 Third Quarter Financial Results 
Company Acquires First Gas & Oil Assets, Major Bank Signs Outsourcing Agreement with First Ecom Systems Limited 
HONG KONG, Nov 19, 2001 -- First Ecom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: FECC, BSX: FECC, FECC BH), a company with interests in gas and oil exploitation and electronic payment solutions today announced the filing of its Form 10Q and financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2001.
First Ecom posted revenue derived from the Company's payment processing operations of $205,928 and $242,836 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2001 as compared to $17,355 and $27,887 for the respective three months and nine months ended September 30, 2000. The increase in revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2001 was mainly due to the consolidation of revenue from the start of operations at First Ecommerce Data Services Limited (FEDS).
"The third quarter was a good quarter business-wise," said Gregory Pek, president and CEO of First Ecom. "We moved quickly and decisively to obtain quality assets in our new core business of oil and gas, with the acquisition of a working equity interest in Gasco Energy which has participation in almost 500,000 acres of land holdings in Utah and Wyoming. Production from the first wells in Utah has just commenced and Gasco will be reporting revenue in the fourth quarter.
"The future of payment processing in Asia also looks brighter and during the quarter the Company secured a major outsourcing deal with UOB in Malaysia. While business was just starting at FEDS the Company thought it prudent to accept the offer to sell it in order to better focus on oil and gas as well as Asian payment processing. In addition to these successes we were able to finalize the productization of our payment gateway and MARS products into a new e-Acquiring system. This has the potential to be another significant revenue source, as we will no longer be selling only to banks that want to outsource but also to those banks and other businesses that want in-house systems. Our market is therefore much larger. These are all very positive developments."
Net Loss for the third quarter of 2001, before charges for impairment of goodwill and the write down of marketable securities, was $2,308,178 as compared to the third quarter of 2000 net loss of $3,623,459 and $4,357,248 for the nine months ended September 30, 2001 compared to $10,398,602 for the nine months ended September 30, 2000.
Net loss per share for the quarter, before charges for impairment and write down of marketable securities, was $0.12 per share as compared to a net loss per share of $0.19 for the same quarter in 2000.
As previously announced, the Company has decided to change its business focus to that of oil and gas development and exploitation and the during the quarter the Company acquired, for $19 million, a 26% equity interest in Gasco Energy, Inc. (NASD-OTC-BB: GASE) a company which acquires and exploits natural gas properties in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. Included in the Company's operating results for the third quarter is a $155,701 charge for the Company's
equity loss from Gasco Energy. 
Gasco Energy is one of the leading companies in the development and exploitation of natural gas reserves in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. It has land holdings of some 159,000 acres in the Uinta Basin in northeast Utah and some 332,000 acres in the Green River Basin of southwest Wyoming.
In October 2001 the Company sold FEDS, with a guaranteed receipt of a minimum of $5 million, resulting in an impairment charge of $3,159,505, which has been recorded in the three months ended September 30, 2001.
Operating expenses before the impairment charge for the three months ended September 30, 2001 were 17% lower than for the comparable period in 2000 and for the nine months ended September 30, 2001 were 33% lower than for the comparable period in 2000. This reflects the Company's concentrated effort on reducing costs. The operating expenses include restructuring costs of $198,821 incurred during the first two quarters.
As of September 30, 2001, the Company's net current assets stood at $3.0 million (December 31, 2000: $31.8 million). Net cash used in operating activities decreased from $6,334,932 for the nine months ended September 30, 2000 to $4,592,465 for the nine months ended September 30, 2001, mainly due to the significant reduction in operating costs in the first nine months of 2001 as compared to the first nine months of 2000.
Net cash used in investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2001 was $23,505,347 as compared to $7,316,048 for the nine months ended September 30, 2000. The major activities were (i) the acquisition of and investment in FEDS of $3,984,526 and (ii) acquisition of petroleum assets, in the form of a 26% equity interest in Gasco Energy, Inc., for $19 million.
Further progress was made during the quarter in the payment processing business by the signing of agreements with United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) (UOB) and American Express. Revenue as a result of these contracts is expected to commence during the fourth quarter.
In addition, the Company completed the productization of its e-Acquirer payment gateway system. This will allow the Company to sell complete systems to banks and financial institutions that do not wish to outsource the entire payment process.
The Company had a total of 24 (including 10 at FEDS) full time employees as at September 30, 2001 as compared to 56 full time employees, not including FEDS, as at September 30, 2000. This decrease in employees has resulted in a recovery, during the nine months ended September 30, 2001, of $2,202,766 of previously expensed stock-based compensation costs. During the comparable period ended September 30, 2000, the Company expensed $3,050,794 of stock-based compensation.
The Company's financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2001 accompanied the filing of its Form 10-Q with the Securities & Exchange Commission on November 14, 2001, which is available on-line at the SEC's Edgar database at www.freeedgar.com.
                           Financial Summary 
                         FIRST ECOM.COM, INC. 
                   Financial Highlights (Unaudited) 
                   Quarter Ended             Nine Months Ended 
               Sept 30,     Sept 30,       Sept 30,      Sept 30, 
                 2001         2000          2001          2000 
Revenues       $205,928      $17,355       $242,836       $27,887 
Operating 
 (loss)      ($5,368,486) ($2,881,473)    ($9,158,299)  ($9,279,644) 
Net (Loss)   ($5,775,588) ($3,623,459)    ($7,824,658) ($10,398,602) 
Basic and 
 diluted net 
 loss per share 
 before impairment 
 charges and 
 write down 
 of marketable 
 securities     ($0.12)      ($0.19)        ($0.23)       ($0.59) 
Net Loss        ($0.30)      ($0.19)        ($0.41)       ($0.59) 
Shares used 
 to compute 
 basic and 
 diluted loss 
 per share     19,210,037   18,935,312     19,210,037    17,674,906 
    About First Ecom.com 
First Ecom.com Inc. has interests in both oil and gas exploitation as well as being a global provider of electronic payment solutions through its wholly owed subsidiary First Ecom Systems Limited.
For more information, visit www.firstecom.com or contact First Ecom.com at +(852) 2801-5181 or by e-mail at info@firstecom.com.
Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking" statements (as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Because such statements include significant risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For a discussion of some of these risks and uncertainties, please refer to the company's SEC filings, which contain additional discussion about those risk factors, which could cause actual results to differ from management's expectations. First Ecom expressly disclaims any
obligation to update the statements contained herein. 
CONTACT:          First Ecom.com 
                  Ken Telford, (852) 2801-5181 
                  or 
                  Peter Forward, 888/305-8233 (Investor Relations)