Shares in Infobank International Holdings Plc climbed 7% to 91.5 pence ($1.48) on news that IT services company ICL Plc is to use its InTrade business-to-business e-commerce product as part of range of e-commerce services for customers. Infobank directors hailed the deal as being of great commercial importance.
While business-to-business electronic transactions are forecast to increase from $8bn in 1997 to over $300bn by 2002, the market for electronic procurement and delivery systems is in its infancy and the companies involved are scarcely household names. UK-based Infobank competes with US companies such as Commerce One Inc and Ariba Technologies Inc.
But Infobank has no immediate plans to plunge into the US market, focusing instead on using InTrade’s multi-currency and multi-lingual capabilities to build a strong position in Europe. InTrade is designed to automate the procurement process so that specified employees can order from approved suppliers from the desktop – leaving purchasing specialists free to negotiate the best deals.
Last month, Infobank signed a deal with KPMG Consulting (CI No 3,611). After buying a 25% holding in Elliot Pearce Ltd (EPL) in March (CI No 3624). Infobank is using EPL’s tools and applications to enable InTrade to be integrated with back office legacy systems.
