Iona finance boss steps down


14 Jun 2005

Despite the fact that Iona’s chief financial officer Dan Demmer is stepping down, the Irish middleware player and tech star has maintained that it has returned to profitability and has a strong balance sheet.

Demmer said today that he is stepping down at the end of this month. The company has initiated a search for a successor to Demmer. Iona said this afternoon Demmer is to join a late-stage private software company in an unrelated business area.

The Nasdaq-listed company took the occasion to reaffirm its guidance for the second quarter of this year with total revenues to be in the range of US$16m to US$17m. However, the company said it expects total expenses also to be in the range US$16m to US$17m, leaving a tight margin for the company to return to profit.

Demmer headed up Iona’s financial operations during a troubled time for the company during which founder and chairman Chris Horn returned briefly to the role of CEO in order to steer the ship.

Iona’s current CEO Peter Zotto said that Iona is well positioned for future success and has a solid foundation. “The company has a strong and deep management team in place which has streamlined our cost base, returned the company to profitability and built a strong balance sheet,” he said.

Demmer himself said: “I am proud to be associated with Iona. The company has developed a highly leverageable business model and has set itself a clear objective to become the market leader in the enterprise service business market. However, after almost a decade with the company, I feel the time is right to pursue a new opportunity in the software industry.”

By John Kennedy