Baltimore Technologies Plc, the Irish-American e-commerce security firm, has recorded a loss for the third quarter to September 30 of $13.7m, compared with a loss of $2.6m on revenue that rose 63% to $10.2m. The Dublin, Ireland and Boston, Massachusetts firm recorded a nine month loss of $39.5m compared to a loss of $3.5m on revenue that rose 36.1% to $26.1m.
Chief executive officer Fran Rooney attributed the revenue increases to strong software license sales, which rose from 11% of revenue in the first quarter to 44% by the third quarter. He told ComputerWire that the company was aiming to reach 60% by the end of 2001, with services making up 25% and maintenance and hardware the remainder.
Rooney also said that the firm has seen positive results from a marketing drive in the non-European markets. The US, where Baltimore raised $170m in a public offering on Nasdaq last month, was a brand new market at the beginning of the year and it now represents 7% of revenue. Nearly 40% of the sales pipeline, said Rooney, is currently US-based and the company is slated to derive up to a quarter of its business from the American market next year.
Cash raised from the IPO will be used for acquisitions in the US, possibly rival security firms, the CEO said. He was bullish about the size of potential acquisitions, saying that Baltimore will be scanning the market for firms with a market capitalization of up to $1bn.
