Trintech, the electronic payment company, has reported a turnover increase of 94 per cent to $8.03 million (€7.97 million) in the three months to October 31st on the comparable period last year.
In its first quarterly results since floating on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York and on the German Neuer Markt last September, Trintech reported a net loss of $2.14 million, down from $2.85 million in its third quarter in 1998.
Turnover in the first nine months of Trintech's financial year reached $21.2 million, up 42 per cent on the comparable period last year.
Trintech's growth was helped by increased software licence sales, which grew by 248 per cent to $2.36 million. In the nine months to October 31st, software licence revenue increased by 86 per cent to $5.69 million.
Product revenue rose by 58 per cent to $4.89 million, increasing in the first three quarters of the year to $13.43 million. Valued at $370,000, service revenue increased by 112 per cent in this year's third quarter.
An expansion of Trintech's global sales force and cross-selling to existing customers also contributed to its growth.
The company said its gross margin on sales for the quarter was 46.4 per cent of sales, or $3.72 million, up from a margin of 21.3 per cent in the third quarter last year.
Trintech produces software which enables secure electronic transactions on the Internet, typically with a credit card.
The company also revealed that it had reached an agreement to integrate its NetIssuer "virtual credit card" with a digital certificate system produced by a Californian firm, VeriSign, which customers use as an electronic credential for online transactions.
Trintech said it had raised almost $60 million, net of expenses, from the IPO of 25 per cent of its stock.
"We've got the currency, we've got the capital - and now we have to execute," said Mr Cyril McGuire, Trintech's executive chairman.
Asked when Trintech was likely to report a profit, Mr McGuire said: "The analysts are predicting 2002 on that. We're comfortable with the consensus that's held on the street.
"Companies such as ourselves are in investment modes. Our R&D expenditure is a clear indication of our commitment to be at the cutting edge."
Trintech spent $2.39 million on research and development (R&D) in the third quarter.
The company said its partnership with VeriSign would enable it to transform "unauthenticated Internet transactions to a `cardholder present' status without the need for any technological understanding on the part of bank customers or merchants".
Trintech claimed the technology would was potentially "even more secure" than ATM and credit card transactions in retail outlets.
