Iona Technologies shares slide after profit warning

SHARES in Iona Technologies slid 7% yesterday after the struggling software company issued a profit warning.

The Dublin-based company said revenues for the three months to June would fall short of previous forecasts at between $13.6 million (€11.3million) and $14.1million.

It had previously flagged turnover of between $16million and $17million. The bottom line would fall into the red with a net loss of between $0.06 and $0.08 per share, a statement to the stock exchange said.

But newly-appointed chief executive Peter Zotto, who replaced company founder Chris Horn earlier this year, remained upbeat and said the company’s new Artix product were on target.

Artix, which improves the way computer systems interact with each other, currently accounts for 13% of Iona revenues but is considered its main hope for sales growth.

“We continue to pursue certain enterprise software transactions that we expected to close prior to quarter end,” said Mr Zotto.

Iona shares tumbled but bounced back to limit losses to 7% in later trading. Yesterday’s news disappointed investors after the company had returned to profitability in the last three months of 2004.