Evercore to advise Datalex on growth options
LISTED travel-software firm Datalex has appointed corporate advisors Evercore to help it explore strategic options for growth, the Sunday Independent has learned.
Strategic partnerships and adding more customers will be areas of interest as part of the Irish company’s engagement with the US firm, one of the global leaders in the field.
Datalex has been one of the star performers on the Irish Stock Exchange in recent years. It’s currently trading around €3.75 a share — up from around €1.70 this time two years ago — with a market capitalisation of just under €280m.
Dermot Desmond’s International Investment & Underwriting is the largest shareholder in the company, run by chief executive Aidan Brogan.
In 2016, the company’s profit after tax increased 29pc to $5.4m, driven by a 19pc increase in revenue.
The company provides software to airlines to enable them to sell products online. Customers include Aer Lingus, Virgin Atlantic, and the Lufthansa Group.
It has done a significant deal with multinational IBM to collaborate on ecommerce software products.
“Our selection by the Lufthansa Group and our new partnership with IBM represent significant validations of both our product and our market strategy, and as a result, we are seeing a strengthening of our pipeline of new business opportunities, particularly among larger carriers,” Brogan said in March when the company announced its results.
It has also signed a partnership deal with Chinese software firm Neusoft to extend its reach into that fast-growing market.
An Irish-headquartered competitor, OpenJaw, is owned by Chinese company TravelSky, and has ambitions for major growth in that market.