VSNT Versant Corp. (MM)

FREMONT, Calif., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Versant Corporation (NASDAQ:VSNT), announced today that it has taken additional action to implement its restructuring plan, which it announced on June 14, 2005. As part of this restructuring, Versant has spun-out Versant Open Access .NET (VOA.NET) and its business activities addressing object-relational mapping for the .NET environment into Vanatec GmbH, a separate privately-held company based in Europe. Versant will remain a minority owner of Vanatec, commits to provide funding by November 3, 2005, not to exceed $550,000, and holds a 19.6% share interest. Former Versant employees currently hold the remaining equity. In pursuing its restructuring efforts, Versant evaluated alternatives for addressing its VOA.NET business. In this process, Versant determined that termination of the VOA.NET business would have caused Versant to incur cash outlays for severance and other contractual obligations in amounts comparable to Versant's funding commitment to the spun-out business, without offering Versant any ability to further participate in the potential success of the business. Versant is currently evaluating the proper accounting treatment of this transaction. Versant is not expecting the VOA.NET spin-off to impact its revenues materially. The total quarterly cost savings attributable to previously announced elements of Versant's restructuring plan, excluding the effect of the VOA.NET spin-off, is expected to be approximately $400,000 for the quarter ending October, 31 2005, and is expected to increase to approximately $550,000 by the quarter ending July 31, 2006. These cost savings are related to completed headcount reduction and reduced discretionary spending. Restructuring expenses are approximately $83,000 for the quarter ending July 31, 2005 and $16,000 for the quarter ending October 31, 2005 related to severance payments for headcount reductions. "With the spin-out of the VOA.NET business, we achieved a major milestone in focusing Versant on its core database business and progressing towards it's the goal of long-term profitability," said Jochen Witte, the CEO of Versant Corporation. "I am also convinced that the VOA.NET business will benefit by being part of an organization that is solely focused on this product line. The spin-off of Vanatec allows Versant to participate in any future upside of the VOA.NET business while at the same time limiting its cash exposure to the aforementioned $550,000 investment. The alternative of exiting from the VOA.NET business would have required comparable financial resources with no upside potential." About Versant Corporation Versant Corporation is an industry leader in specialized data management and open data access software. Using Versant's solutions, customers cut hardware costs, speed and simplify development, significantly reduce administration costs, and deliver products with a strong competitive edge. Versant's solutions are deployed in a wide array of industries including telecommunications, financial services, transportation, manufacturing, and defense. With over 50,000 installations, Versant has been a highly reliable partner for over 15 years for Global 2000 companies such as British Airways, US Government, Financial Times, IBM, and MCI. For more information, call 510-789-1500 or visit http://www.versant.com/. Forward Looking Statements Involve Risks and Uncertainties This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the safe harbor created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding: the quarterly cost savings Versant expects to result from its announced restructuring plan, the timing of such cost savings, estimated restructuring expenses for the quarter ended July 31, 2005 and Versant's expectations that it will be able to achieve future profitability. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or of corporate transactions and these forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in the forward- looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation; the inability to achieve revenue expectations as a result of delays in the sales cycle for our products and services, changing markets demands, the performance of our resellers and the impact of the currently announced restructuring; the possibility that existing value added resellers may not remain committed to our software or that their sales activity may not keep pace with their historical results; that future sales levels will not meet expectations or may be delayed; the potential for disruption of Versant's business and delays in customer commitments as a result of the announced restructuring plan and recent related management and other changes; the potential impact of the announced restructuring on our revenues and earnings, including the impact of potential sales losses to customers not within our core database management business; the potential impact of the accounting for the spin-out of the VOA.NET business; the performance of the spun-out VOA.NET business; the uncertainty as to the impact and duration of the current market reductions in corporate IT spending; the possibility that additional restructuring actions may be required; and the company's ability to successfully manage its costs and operations and maintain its working capital. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause results to differ can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending October 31, 2004 and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-QSB for the quarters ending January 31, 2005 and April 30, 2005, as amended, and its reports on Form 8-K. NOTE: Versant is either a registered trademark or trademark of Versant Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other products are a registered trademark or trademark of their respective company in the United States and/or other countries. DATASOURCE: Versant Corporation CONTACT: Jochen Witte, Chief Executive and Financial Officer of Versant Corporation, 1-800-VERSANT, or +1-510-789-1500, or ; or investors, Scott Liolios of Liolios Group, Inc., +1-949-574-3860, or , for Versant Web site: http://www.versant.com/

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