Datalex said it halved its pre-tax losses for the first six months of 2003 to $5.6 million (€5.1 million) yesterday as the business climate improved in the global travel industry.
The Irish software firm also announced a deal with Emirates Airlines to provide an online booking engine to the firm, and said it had deferred revenue worth $6.9 million on its books.
Datalex shares added 3 cents to close at 44 cents following the results and market speculation about a possible takeout of the firm. Market sources said a price of 75 cents would be needed for any deal because of the firm's cash reserves worth $36 million.
Turnover at the Howth-based firm increased to $14.6 million in the first six months of the year, up from $11.5 million in the same period of 2002 - a difficult time for the entire airline industry.
Mr Neil Beck, Datalex chief executive, said these increased revenues in the first half of 2003 confirmed the market was continuing to recover and expand.
Pre-tax losses fell to $5.6 million in the first six months of 2003, down from $12.9 million in the first half of 2002. Datalex's results show a loss per share of $0.08 cents, down from $0.20 cents reported in June 2002.
This follows a major restructuring at Datalex over the past 18 months as the firm struggled to cope with a major slump in demand from its main customers.
Operating expenses fell to $9.9 million in the six months ended June 30th, 2003, down from $12.9 million in the same period of 2002.
Mr Beck said additional cost efficiency at the firm achieved in the first half of 2003 would flow through into the second half of 2003 and into 2004.
Datalex, which develops software that powers the online booking engines used by airlines, said it had signed new contracts with KLM, Travelbag, Aer Lingus and Emirates during this year.
The company recently completed an upgrade to Aer Lingus's new website and booking engine.
Mr Ciarán McNally, chief financial officer at Datalex, said the firm should begin making pre-tax profits by mid-2004. He said the firm had seen a pick up in the Asian market in recent months following the end of the Iraq war and the SARS virus outbreak.
