The Leuven, Belgium-based company’s share price had almost doubled in recent weeks after it announced on June 13 that it was the subject of a due-diligence review, but the share price has now plummeted again on news that the discussions have been called off.
From a start of about 1.40 euros ($1.60) on June 13, the share price shot up to over 2.50 euros ($2.85) before its Friday plunge to 1.44 euros ($1.64). The company’s shares are listed on both the Euronext and Nasdaq Europe.
The company had earlier tried to play down the due-diligence discussions, stating that they were at a very early stage. Now that the talks have been terminated, the company’s VP of investor relations, Ina Suffeleers, said it would have no impact on the company.
It is really not extraordinary for companies in the current market position to have these sorts of discussions, she said.
While the talks may have failed, Suffeleers said the company would continue to welcome attention as it attempts to ensure future growth. We will definitely not exclude any discussion with any future parties that will support that growth, she said.
Profitability is a particular problem for Ubizen, while its revenue has taken a hammering after the company divested its interest in its French subsidiary RISC technology. For the second quarter ended March 31, the RISC divestiture reduced the company’s software revenue to 335,000 euros ($394,094), from 5.1m euros ($5.9m) in the second quarter of 2002, and revenue from third-party products to 2.3m euros ($2.8m), from 12m euros ($14.2m).
While the company’s now core OnlineGuardian managed security services revenue may have grown 32.2% from 4.9m euros ($5.6m) to 6.5m euros ($7.4m), professional services revenue fell 51.7% to 4.2m euros ($4.8m) from 8.7m euros ($9.9m). For the second quarter, the company reported a net loss of 8.3m euros ($9.7m) on total revenue of 13.4m euros ($15.7m).
Source: Computerwire
