Shares in Trintech, the software group which develops secure payment systems for e-commerce transactions, rose sharply on both the Neuer Markt and Nasdaq after the group comfortably beat analysts' forecasts for its 1999 results.
On the Neuer Markt, Trintech traded up €7.90 to €120.90 (£95.22) - they floated on the Neuer Markt at just €11 less than five months ago - and the company is now worth more than €3 billion although it has yet to report a profit.
Founder-shareholders Mr John McGuire and Mr Cyril McGuire have a 37 per cent stake. In the fourth quarter of 1999, Trintech increased sales by almost 50 per cent to $9.05 million while, for the full year, sales rose to $30.2 million (€31.3 million) from $21 million. Losses almost doubled to $12.1 million (€12.6 million).
Rising losses were due mainly to big increases in research and development, sales and marketing and administrative expenses as well as a $2 million charge related to stock options granted to members of the advisory board and to MasterCard as part of a strategic alliance agreement.
Gross margins jumped to 46.7 per cent from 32.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, while for the full year gross margins were up to 43.9 per cent from 33.9 per cent, reflecting the increase in higher margin software licence revenues.
During the fourth quarter, Trintech was involved in a number of major deals, notably the link-up with Discover Financial Services for a virtual credit card based on Trintech's products, strategic partnerships with Entrust and Motorola - the latter to integrate virtual credit cards into mobile phones - and a deal to supply German football club Bayern Munich with its PayWare product.
Trintech has been given a boost with the announcement from Deutsche Borse that the shares will be included in the NEMAX 50 blue-chip index, the index of the top 50 Neuer Markt companies ranked by market capitalisation and liquidity.
