Iona results below expectations


14 Jul 2005

Irish software player Iona Technologies this afternoon reported second-quarter revenues of US$14m. As predicted, the results were far below the US$16m to US$17m originally forecast in June.

Acknowledging that the second-quarter results did not meet expectations, Iona CEO Peter Zotto said the company ended the second quarter with cash, restricted cash and marketable securities balance of US$50.6m and no debt.

A fortnight ago the company warned it would not be meeting the original forecast due to three key software deals in the US falling through.

Nevertheless, Zotto said the company intended to push ahead with its Artix enterprise service bus (ESB) technology strategy. “We made good progress on our strategy during the quarter in enhancing our market positioning and visibility as a leader within the emerging ESB market sector, gaining broad industry validation with the announcement of our open source programme with Celtix.

“Our Artix product line achieved significant year-over-year revenue growth. We delivered important upgrades across our CORBA-based product lines. We advanced the development of our partner ecosystem with a new technology and marketing relationship with Sun Microsystems and SBC selected Iona as one of its top 50 suppliers. Within the new services-oriented architecture market, we believe, with Artix and Celtix, we have the right products, targeted at the right market, at the right time.”

The company said it anticipates total revenues for the third quarter to be in the range of US$15m to US$16m and predicts total costs and expenses for the third quarter in the range of US$16.5m to US$17.5m.

By John Kennedy