TRAVEL SOFTWARE group Datalex reported a pre-tax loss of $800,000 (€546,000) for the first six months of 2008, due to rising fuel prices and a weak dollar. This is 6 per cent less than the loss recorded for the same period last year.

Total revenue at Datalex increased slightly by 3.2 per cent to $16.2 million, boosted by a 35 per cent increase in transaction revenue to $5 million, as new customers Saudi Arabian Airlines and Philippine Airlines went live on the firm's Travel Distribution Platform product suite.

Datalex expects a number of additional customers to go live later this year, and chief financial officer David Kennedy said continued growth in transaction revenue should see the firm's losses decline by year's end. Transaction revenue now accounts for 30 per cent of the firm's overall revenue, up from 24 per cent for the same period in 2007.

Datalex said that the net loss of $800,000 was due in part to lower than expected services revenue arising from deferral of some discretionary professional services expenditure planned by a number of airlines in the light of fuel price pressures, and the impact of the weak dollar on the cost base.

However, Mr Kennedy said that current market conditions will make the firm's products "more compelling" for the travel sector going forward.

The firm spent $3.8 million on product development in the first half of 2008, up from $3 million in the same period in 2007.