Baltimore reduces losses to £2.2m
The shares fell in later trading yesterday to end 6% up on the day.
Goodbody Stockbrokers re-rated the shares following the results, which show the company will have a net cash position of £30.5m following the sale of some operations, equating to 50p a share. Baltimore shares opened at 33p yesterday and closed at 37p.
Goodbody analyst Gerry Hennigan said Baltimore's outlook statement concentrated on the ongoing options available for the company and had left the door open for the sale of the remaining part of the business.
They had raised their recommendation to reflect net cash value and the fact that the bulk of sales emanated from the PKI business suggesting further downside in the revenue line was limited, thus enabling the company to stem the near-term cash burn.
Cash burn in the first half of the year was £3.5m compared to £9.4m in the same period in 2002. The company appears to be on target to hit a cashflow break-even point by the end of the year.
Baltimore Technologies chief executive Bijan Khezri said: "During the reported period, we succeeded in cutting our losses further and continued to demonstrate the outstanding competitiveness of our core PKI business by winning some of the world's leading e-government projects."
They would continue to generate cash through divestments and reduce the cash burn of existing operations, he said. They would not tolerate any operational cash burn beyond the end of the year and would use all means to maximise value for shareholders.
Total operating expenses before exceptional items for H1 2003 were £11.1m, a decrease of 71% from £38.6m in 2002. Baltimore's market capitalisation was £19.83m yesterday, down from £3.62bn in September 2000.
