Shares in struggling software company Iona Technologies were up more than 10 per cent in Dublin yesterday following speculation that it could be the subject of a takeover bid.
The shares closed at €2.23 last night. They hit a one-year low on January 24th when they traded down to €1.35 but they are up more than 20 per cent in the last five days of trading.
A spokeswoman for Iona said the company has a policy of not commenting on rumours or speculation. She said the group has a strategy and approach to the market which it believes will make it successful in 2008 and it is focusing on executing that plan.
Gerry Hennigan, an analyst at Goodbody Stockbrokers who covers Iona, said it was unclear who might come in to acquire Iona. "The bigger story is that the software market is now consolidating around the bigger vendors," he said.
Database and applications giant Oracle last month agreed to acquire BEA Systems for $8.5 billion (€5.7 billion). Mr Hennigan noted that BEA was the "biggest remaining pure play" in the middleware space in which Iona also operates. Middleware is a class of software that is used to enable other software applications to communicate.
Iona last month issued a profit warning that fourth quarter revenues would come in at $18 million rather than the $20-22 million it had previously guided. Chief executive Peter Zotto blamed the shortfall on "weakness in the financial services market".
