The board of Baltimore Technologies will delist its shares from the London Stock Exchange in an effort to cut running costs.

The technology firm, which was a member of the FTSE 100 at the height of the dotcom boom, said yesterday it had also asked the High Court to strike out one part of a £13 million (€18.5 million)legal case taken against it by Earthport.

Earthport is claiming fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misstatement and breach of contract in a case lodged against its former supplier Baltimore in the British High Court in July 2004.

However, Baltimore said in a statement that its investigations to date had found that Earthport's allegations were without merit.

It said it had issued an application to the court to strike out the claim for fraudulent misrepresentation earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the Baltimore board, which is controlled by the Bermuda-based firm Acquisitor, said it made sense for the company to cancel its listing on the London Stock Exchange.

"The board does not believe that, in the company's current situation where it is essentially a cash shell, it is in the company's best interests to incur the costs involved in maintaining such a listing," said the statement.

Acquisitor, which ousted Baltimore's previous board of directors in a vote earlier this year, had already signalled it might delist its shares to cut costs.

Around 24,000 shareholders in Baltimore, holding about 59 per cent of the shares, have fewer than 125 ordinary shares each. They will now be eligible for a cash refund of just under £22 each.

Baltimore will also cancel its American Depository Receipts.