Datalex, the retail software provider to airlines, has said it is considering raising fresh capital to strengthen its balance sheet after returning to positive earnings for the first time in four years in 2025 as it delisted from the Dublin stock market.
The company, which is 49.3 per cent owned by billionaire Dermot Desmond, swung into adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of $1.75 million (€1.5 million) from a loss of $3.11 million in 2024, according to its latest annual report, published on its website.
The turnaround was driven by customers moving to its next-generation airline retailing platform, Stellex, which spans air fare pricing to ancillary products such as bags, seats, bundles and personalised offers, as well as a continuing shift towards charging airlines recurring fees for software licence deals and passenger transactions.
Datalex’s business was heavily weighted towards building expensive, bespoke IT systems for individual airline customers before it was rocked by an accounting scandal in 2019.
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Total revenue jumped 19 per cent last year to $32.8 million, with Stellex, which was launched in late 2024, accounting for 30 per cent of the total. The revenue figure was also flattered by a $2 million fee received when an unnamed customer cancelled a contract.
The company declined to comment on questions about the cancelled contract. However, it issued a statement from chief executive Jonathan Rockett saying new contracts signed in 2025 “will begin contributing revenues in 2026 and are anticipated to increase in 2027”.
Datalex’s net loss contracted by 80 per cent last year to $2.05 million. Retained losses amounted to $83 million as of the end of 2025.
The company borrowed €6 million last autumn from companies controlled by Desmond and two other major shareholders, Nick Furlong and Sean O’Driscoll. The report confirmed previous Irish Times reporting that the annual interest rate on that debt amounts to 16 per cent, slightly lower than the 18 per cent rate attached to previous Desmond loans. The loans are due to be repaid at the end of 2029.
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Datalex’s liabilities were almost $1.4 million higher than its assets at the end of 2025.
“The board is actively considering a range of options to strengthen the group’s balance sheet and restore a net asset position, including the potential to raise additional capital,” it said.
While Datalex said it does not need new capital in the immediate future, it added that the board “acknowledges that additional funding may be required beyond this period to support the group’s longer-term growth objectives and to further strengthen the balance sheet”.
Datalex argued last year that delisting from the stock exchange would free up management to focus more on strategy and execution, cut as much as $1.4 million of annual costs linked to its listed status and give it greater access to capital, including private equity or strategic investors.
The delisting followed years of turmoil, triggered by the accounting scandal in early 2019, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and not helped by setting an overly optimistic set of medium-term financial targets in 2023.
While Datalex made arrangements for a UK-regulated specialist venue for matching buyers and sellers of unlisted stocks (called JP Jenkins) to offer shareholders the possibility of trading stock after the delisting, some institutional investors were forced to sell as they are not allowed to hold shares in companies that aren’t quoted on a regulated exchange.
Shares in the company last traded on the JP Jenkins platform in April at 27 cent apiece, according to the venue’s website. That was three cent below where the stock was trading in Dublin before it was delisted last September.
