nCipher edges closer to break even

[R. A. Hettinga]

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/32178.html>

The Register

  7
August 2003 
  Updated: 16:37 GMT 



nCipher edges closer to break even

By Drew Cullen 
Posted: 05/08/2003 at 14:08 GMT 


 
nCipher , the niche
crypto-security hardware house, has reduced Q2 operating losses to £500,000
(Q1, 2003: -£900K) on flat sales of £3.5m (Q1 £3.6m). 

The Cambridge, UK
company's cash burn for the quarter ended 30 June 2003 was £300K, against
£400K for the previous quarter. For the half year operating loss was £1.4m,
much better than the same period in 2002, when it posted an operating loss
of £4.8m. H1 revenues were £7.1m, up 18 per cent (H1 2002 £6m). 

nCipher
attributes H1 sales growth to its entry in the online payments market with
a product called payShield. The company forecasts revenue growth from this
product line, and stable revenus from other products in the second half.


Other highlights for nCipher's Q2 were new relationships with Verisign
and IBM and an upgrade in status with Microsoft, for which it is now a Gold
Certified Partner. 

nCipher closed its interims with a cash balance of
£39m, a comfortable cushion to take it through to profitability. That's if
the shareholders don't demand return of what still looks like, considering
nCipher's size, a lot of surplus cash. 

In March 2003, nCipher returned
around £65m of its then £101m cash pile to shareholders. The company raised
£104m in a flotation in 2000, an acquisitions war-chest which, in the
event, was never needed. ® 


-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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