Iona Technologies shares increase by 11%

IONA Technologies’ shares jumped 11% yesterday after the software group released positive third-quarter figures.

Revenues for the three months to September were $17.4 million (€14.5 million), which contributed to year-on-year total revenue growth of 6%.

Licence revenues were 29% ahead. Pre-tax profits for the quarter were $631,000, up from $359,000 in the same period last year.

Chief executive Peter Zotto said the performance was good and that sales of the company’s latest product, Artix, were growing while revenues remained solid from the core Corba product. Both products aim to make it easier for a company’s different computer systems to work with each other.

“With our Corba revenue steady at last year’s third quarter level, and growth in Artix, Iona achieved profitability in the quarter,” said Mr Zotto. He added that the company was making progress with other strategic initiatives.

“The success of our commercial software offerings and expanding partner ecosystem, combined with our efforts in the open source community, support Iona’s goal of delivering value to customers and providing sustainable performance for our shareholders,” he said.

The company remains loss-making for the year to date, however. Pre-tax losses for the nine months to September were $1.3 million, a minor slippage from the $1.1 million at the same time last year. Losses per share for the year to date edged up from 4c to 5c.

The company cut research and development spending slightly, but allowed sales and marketing bills, as well as general administrative expenses, to teeter upwards.

Mr Zotto also said yesterday that he had appointed Robert McBride as the company’s new chief financial officer. Mr McBride will take the job on an interim basis and was previously chief financial officer at Ascential Software, which was later taken over by industry giant IBM.

Mr Zotto said Mr McBride would “help us drive our strategic initiatives” and would provide leadership and insights.