Infobank revenue rises despite pre-tax loss

UK ecommerce software supplier Infobank is riding the wave of growth in the internet business-to-business sector, but questions remain over its ability to stay independent.

The firm's first half revenue came to £671,000, compared with just £26,000 for the same period in 1999. Despite this, pre-tax losses of £10m during the first six months of Infobank's trading year - well up on the corresponding period's £3.2m loss - caused its share price to drop below £7.40 from its March high of £40.

Infobank's sales growth is dwarfed by its more high-profile US rivals, Ariba and Commerce One, which showed revenue increases of 578 per cent to $80m and 1392 per cent to $62m respectively in their quarterly results announced in July.

"I don't think Infobank will ever become the size of Commerce One or Ariba, but it is in a good position to lead the pack," said Alexander Drobik, research director at Gartner Group. "It wants to stay independent, but I believe it will need to discuss partnerships or mergers if it is going to be successful in the long-term. The question people will ask is: does Infobank have enough customers to stay in the game?"

First published in Computing