Baltimore Technologies and Trintech, two Irish companies specialising in software security and encryption, have dramatically increased their values since taking listings on the Nasdaq stock market in the last couple of months.
Last week Trintech became a £1 billion (€1.27 billion) company after a strong third quarter sent shares soaring towards a £1.4 billion market capitalisation.
When the company listed on the Nasdaq in late September shares traded at $11.55 (€11.3); yesterday they were trading at $55.12, a 376 per cent increase.
Meanwhile, Baltimore shares have risen steadily since they launched at $24 in late October. This week they had risen 151 per cent to $61. The company now has a market capitalisation of £1.76 billion sterling ($2.3 billion). Chief executive, Mr Fran Rooney's share of around 4 per cent is now valued at $92 million.
Baltimore has now entered the top 250 companies listed on the FTSE, and is the fastest growing entrant to the field this year.
According to Mr Rooney, the market reacted very positively to strong third-quarter results, with an increase in software licence revenues to 42 per cent of total revenues, up from 33 per cent in the second quarter.
The performance is in keeping with a company commitment to increase software revenues. The fact that 15 per cent of these revenues came from US sales also bodes well for the company's goal of taking on the US market, where competitors Entrust and VeriSign pose stiff competition.
"We're moving from a company targeted by low capital investors to one targeted by high capital investors. We're beginning to see the impact of the US investment, and recent contracts with the Singapore post office and Taiwan stock exchange are strong footholds into those markets," Mr Rooney said.
Trintech declined to comment on its recent stock market performance, but company chief executive Mr Cyril McGuire acknowledged the company's first quarter results had been well received by investors. "The general climate in the ecommerce sector appears to be lifting all e-commerce stocks," Mr McGuire added.
Mr McGuire and his brother and joint chief executive, John, have made substantial gains from the bullish investment climate. Between them their shareholding stands at 36 per cent - a stake worth $504 million.
While analysts seem surprised by the length of the upward spiral, they are attributing some of it to a late rally of technology stocks before the first quarter next year. "The environment is very much sheep and shepherd. Where investment portfolios have been found underweight in technology stocks, investment houses are now frantic to get into them," one analyst said.
Madeleine Lyons can be contacted at mlyons@irish-times.ie
