Data center automation software house Beta Systems Software AG, based in Berlin, has reported second-quarter net profits of the equivalent of $281,000 on sales up 32% at $9.9m. This compares to a loss of $619,000 in the second quarter of 1997. Beta reported a net loss before taxes of $1.5m for the first six months, compared to a first-half loss of $169,000 in 1997, while its mid-term revenue was up 26.6% at $17.4m. Beta CFO Christiane Hotz-Firlus said Beta traditionally has its strongest period in the second half of the year, and indeed, this was the first time since going into operation in 1983 that it had showed a profit in the second quarter. The company floated on the Deutsche Borse’s Neuer Markt in 1997, raising $42m and now trades 60% of its capital. It would also like to list on Nasdaq, said Hotz-Firlus, but only after further growing revenues in the US and raising Beta’s US subsidiary’s profile.. The US still only contributes around 10% of overall revenues, and ‘visibility begins at 15%’, she argued. However, with the second quarter having been Beta’s strongest ever, the potential for a US flotation has increased, provided the rest of the year is equally good, she argued. If the company does decide to list on Nasdaq next year, the operation may or may not be accompanied by a stock offering. That will be determined by its acquisition strategy at the time, for Beta is actively interested in carrying out further purchases in North America. It has already acquired Pecan Software, from whence came both 100 of its US customers and its HQ for the North American market, in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as the Canadian company QMaster Software Solutions Inc. A Nasdaq listing was also a fundamental part of the rationale behind the stock split carried out by the company after its Neuer Markt flotation, going from 9 million to 18 million shares outstanding. ‘We did it to have greater liquidity, but also so that the per share valuation is closer to Nasdaq, where values are rarely in excess of $100,’ Hotz-Firlus explained.
