Beleaguered Irish e-security firm Baltimore Technologies has sold its OmniRoot managed services division beTRUSTed for approximately £2m sterling.
Based on unaudited management information for the 12-month period ended 31 December 2002, the OmniRoot business generated revenues of approximately £600k sterling (US$900k) and a profit before interest and tax of approximately £500k sterling (US$800k). As at 31 December 2002, the net assets of the OmniRoot business were approximately £400k sterling (US$600k).
Baltimore intends to use the cash proceeds of the disposal of £2m sterling (approximately US$3.1m), payable at completion, for general corporate purposes. Baltimore expects that the disposal will be completed by the end of September 2003.
Commenting on the sale, Baltimore’s chief executive, Bijan Khezri, said: “Further to the recent sale of our managed services operation to beTRUSTed, this transaction represents a further step in maximising value for our shareholders and customers. Through its global managed services operations, we believe beTRUSTed is uniquely positioned to effectively capitalise on the potential of OmniRoot in the marketplace.”
Baltimore OmniRoot is a trusted root, embedded within the majority of the world’s browsers, mobile devices, email clients and servers, which ensures that digital certificates issued for SSL (secure socket layer) and Secure/MIME are automatically accepted for secure e-commerce transactions. The technology supports full 128-bit encryption, the most secure standard available on the market today.
BeTRUSTed’s chief executive, John Garvey, said: “This acquisition is a significant step in strengthening beTRUSTed’s offerings, broadening our ability to offer new services to both existing and new clients. Purchasing Baltimore’s OmniRoot business is an important strategic step in our mission to become the leading global trust services provider. We offer existing and future customers a stable, high-quality platform to implement their security and trust strategies.”
By John Kennedy
