Trintech, the secure payment systems company, has announced its first profit in its four-and-a-half years as a listed company in the three months to January 31st.
The Irish-based group, chaired by Mr Cyril McGuire, and quoted on the Nasdaq and Frankfurt exchange, said revenues in the quarter, the last of its fiscal year, came to $12.3 million (€9.9 million), 18 per cent ahead of 2003, when it posted sales of $10.5 million. Net income (profit before tax) for the fourth quarter was $577,000, two cents a share, or four cents per American depositary share (ADS).
This was the first quarter in which Trintech recorded a profit since it floated in September 1999. It lost $23.7 million during the same period last year.
Revenues for the full year to January 31st were flat at $43.1 million compared with $42.9 million in 2003. Losses fell from $45 million the previous year to $3.16 million. Losses per share dropped to 10 cents from $1.47.
The company cut operating expenses by 54 per cent to $27.7 million this year from $60 million the previous year. Its fourth- quarter operating expenses fell by 75 per cent to $6.7 million from $26.7 million.
Net cash at January 31st was down almost $6 million to $38.6 million from $42.6 million. This was largely attributable to the company spending $7 million on acquisitions this year, compared with $2.2 million in 2003.
Trintech's Irish broker, Goodbody, yesterday rated the stock a buy. Analyst Mr Gerry Hennigan pointed out that the company had managed to keep a lid on costs despite carrying the extra expenses associated with its $5 million acquisition of US-based Dataflow in the last quarter.
The purchase, completed at the beginning of November, added 39 people to Trintech's overall headcount.
Trintech provides secure payments software for credit and automatic teller machine (ATM) card systems. During the last quarter, the German card payment regulator, Zentraler Kreditausschuss, approved its personal identity number (PIN)-based Openpay system. This effectively meant that Openpay met the standards required for use in a number of countries.
Several organisations, including Dubai Bank, and football teams Aston Villa and Manchester City, selected its card payment management software to process their retail transactions.
