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Datalex Chief Executive Officer Neil Beck said on Tuesday that the e-travel industry is on the mend, and so is Datalex's bottom line.
The Irish e-travel technology company released its Q1 results on Tuesday, reporting significant improvements in operating expenses year-on-year, after the firm was hit by the woes created in the travel industry following 11 September.
"Post September 11 we just shut everything down... people just put the money back in their pockets," Beck told ElectricNews.Net. "Its hard to sign new deals when customers are saying they don't even know if they will be in business next year."
"Now were are seeing that people are lifting their heads out of the bunkers," he continued. "They are coming back around and asking what our technology can do for them and how it can help them cut costs."
Using US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), the company said on Tuesday that its operating expenses declined from over USD17 million in the first quarter of 2001, to only USD5.45 million in the three months to March 2002. Importantly, losses from operations also fell to just over USD4 million, down from over USD13 million this time a year ago.
The company, which makes e-travel technology, said that loss per ordinary share were USD0.06, down from USD0.16, a figure that includes charges for non-cash stock. The company also pointed out that total revenues, at USD5.5 million, were also on the rise, up sequentially by three percent.
In the last year, Datalex cut a massive USD23 million in operating expenses, "which is a lot for a small company our size," Beck pointed out.
The chief executive said that the company's focus is on operational profitability, but he declined to say when he expected the firm to reach that goal. Beck also said that because the sales cycle on new customer acquisitions was much longer now, the business was only able to make a few announcements regarding new customers in Q4.
But in the months ahead Datalex expects to make a number of announcements regarding new customer wins, Beck claimed. In the first quarter of 2002 the company signed new agreements with American Trans Air, Siemens Mobile Travel Solutions and PT Garuda Indonesia, adding to its existing agreements with companies like American Airlines, Worldspan, Air Canada, Aer Lingus, Amtrak and Singapore Airlines.
The Irish company now employs around 270 globally, plus another 30 long-term contractors. One hundred workers are based in Ireland and the company has shed around six jobs, mainly through attrition, since January 2002. No further jobs are expected to be lost, Beck said.
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