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Datalex is a public
software developer Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, Computer programming, programming, software documentation, documenting, software testing, testing, and Software bugs, bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applic ...
headquartered in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Ireland. It works mostly with airlines to develop travel software, such as booking websites, and counts
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,
easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...
,
Virgin Australia Virgin Australia, the trading name of Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd, is an Australian-based airline. It is the largest airline by fleet size to use the Virgin Group, Virgin brand. It commenced services on 31 August 2000 as ''Virgin Blue ...
,
Air China Air China Limited () is the flag carrier of the People's Republic of China and one of the "Big Three" mainland Chinese airlines (alongside China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines). Air China's headquarters are in Shunyi District, ...
and
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among its customers. It is a publicly listed company on
Euronext Dublin Euronext Dublin (formerly The Irish Stock Exchange, ISE; ga, Stocmhalartán na hÉireann) is Ireland's main stock exchange, and has been in existence since 1793. The Euronext Dublin lists debt and fund securities and is used as a European ga ...
.


History


Early years (1980s-2012)

A precursor to Datalex was Channel Automation Services (CAS), a company started by Scottish businessman Neil Wilson in 1983. In 1984,
IDA Ireland Industrial Development Agency (IDA Ireland) ( ga, An Ghníomhaireacht Forbartha Tionscail) is the agency responsible for the attraction and retention of inward foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in ...
asked Wilson if he would set up an Irish office in Dublin. The next year, Wilson sold his stake in CCS and founded Datalex with IDA grants. To begin with, Datalex produced
check-in Check-in is the process whereby people announce their arrival at an office, hotel, airport, hospital, seaport or event. Office check-in Many offices have a reception or front office area near the entrance to greet or assist visitors arriving to a ...
and reservations technology but the decline of the
airline industry An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...
in the late 1980s focused the company on
global distribution system A global distribution system (GDS) is a computerised network system owned or operated by a company that enables transactions between travel industry service providers, mainly airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and travel agencies. The GDS ma ...
s. At first, the company sold services to larger pre-existing global distribution companies, such as
Sabre A sabre ( French: sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...
and
Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...
but by 1998, Datalex had grown to be major firm of the travel industry in its own right. At that time, an estimated one-sixth of the world's
travel agent A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinatio ...
s used Datalex technology in day-to-day bookings and reservations. The next year, Datalex floated itself on the
Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
and
London stock exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
s and raised $30 million in private funds.


Brogan era (2012-2019)

In 2012, Aidan Brogan took over as
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
after Cormac Whelan stepped down, aiming to stem the annual losses that Datalex had been suffering for several years. By 2013, Datalex had produced an annual profit of $1.1m and the next year, announced its first shareholder
dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-in ...
in the company's 29-year history. Datalex opened a new office in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
in 2014 in an effort to access the growth of the Chinese market. 2017 saw an increased
net profit In business and accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and amortization, interest, a ...
of $7.1m and
revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...
of $63.9m due to new contracts with international deals with Chinese and European airlines. On the British exit from the EU, Brogan commented that as the company was "geographically spread", it had "in-built resilience" to "local issues such as Brexit". He stated that the company's
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office, where around 40 people are employed, would stay open but also noted that the Brexit negotiations were "not helpful for anybody". In September 2018, Datalex's CFO, David Kennedy announced he would step down at the end of the year, ending an 11-year stint at the company. The next month, Datalex signed a deal with
Scandinavian Airlines Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...
to improve the airline's digital strategy.


Revenue irregularities (2019-2020)

On 15 January 2019, Datalex issued a shock
profit warning A profit warning is a warning declaration issued by a listed company to investors through a stock exchange. It warns investors that the profit of the company in the coming quarter will significantly decline when compared with that of the same quart ...
revealing it had misstated revenues in relation to a major customer (thought to be
Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...
) in the first half of the previous year. Datalex warned that it expected to report an adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (
EBITDA A company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (commonly abbreviated EBITDA, pronounced , , or ) is a measure of a company's profitability of the operating business only, thus before any effects of indebtedness, stat ...
) loss of between $1m (€870,000) and $4m (€3.5m), compared with the consensus view among analyst for an almost $16m profit (€14.1m). This represents a difference of as much as $20m (€17.6m) and would result in the company making a loss for 2018. As a result of the announcement, Datalex's share price slumped by 59% the same day, its market value dropping from €191m to €78m. The profit alert came only eight weeks after Datalex issued a positive trading update, saying it had been performing in line with expectations up to 23 November 2018 and that it was “confident” about delivering double-digit percentage
EBITDA A company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (commonly abbreviated EBITDA, pronounced , , or ) is a measure of a company's profitability of the operating business only, thus before any effects of indebtedness, stat ...
growth for the full year. On 6 February 2019, Ireland's Central Bank opened an investigation into the company's November trading statement after Datalex appointed auditors
PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
to review a possible accounting issue. After the announcement, shares in the company dropped by 1%. On 14 February 2019, Datalex announced it planned to cut jobs from its workforce of 500 people (including staff and consultants) in an effort to save up to $10m (€8.8m) a year in costs. The company announcement did not specify to how many people would be let go. On 19 February 2019, Datalex announced that its new CFO, Dónal Rooney (who joined the company in December 2018), was stepping down from the company board but remaining with the company until April to assist with the transition to the next CFO and to help advance a number of "critical ongoing organisational projects". In April 2019, company Chairman Paschal Taggart announced he would resign after the company's AGM later in the year. He said he would have liked to have done a "far better job" and that "somebody had to fall on their sword in these situations". The same month, the
Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
reported that CEO Aidan Brogan had threatened Taggart with legal proceedings after the profit warning in January and told him to limit his contact with clients and employees. Datalex's shares were suspended on 1 May after the company missed a regulatory deadline to publish its full-year results. Datalex's share price closed at €0.916 on the Euronext ISEQ on 30 April and were not traded the next day. Datalex's shares stayed suspended until July 2020, after the company's accounts were reviewed and the company complied with market transparency rules. On 3 May 2019, Brogan resigned with immediate effect with Sean Corkery taking up the role of acting CEO. On 14 May, former
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executive Niall O'Sullivan was announced to be the firm's new CFO, replacing Dónal Rooney. On 16 May, the
Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
reported that Datalex had been in
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talks with an unnamed software firm before the issuing of the profit warning. On 2 August 2019, the company said it expected to report a loss between $4–6 million for 2018 and to also suspend its profit guidance for 2019 and 2020 until the end of the review of its accounts. Seán Corkery said he and Niall O'Sullivan would review the firm's “investment in product development and expect to report a significant exceptional cost” in the accounts for 2018. The Irish Times also reported that billionaire
Dermot Desmond Dermot Desmond (born 14 August 1950) is an Irish businessman and financier. He is estimated to be worth €2.04 billion and is ranked by the ''Sunday Independent'' as the ninth-richest person in Ireland. Early life and education Desmond was b ...
had injected €10m in the company to keep it afloat. On 6 September 2019, Datalex reported a $50 million loss for 2018 though auditor EY declined to give an opinion on the company's finances. The next day
Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...
announced it had ended its contract with Datalex. The firm said they would challenge the legality of the termination notice. At Datalex's AGM in mid-September, acting-CEO Sean Corkery said that former management had misled the board and suggested that legal action might be taken against them to recover $3.8 million that had been wrongly used to fund shareholder dividends. It was also reported by the Irish Times that Cyril McGuire, a technology entrepreneur, and Michael Chadwick, a former director of Grafton, had also put money into Datalex. In October 2019, it was announced that Sean Corkery, who had been interim CEO since May, had been appointed CEO in a permanent capacity. The next month, David Hargaden, CEO of Unity Technology Solutions, an Irish IT firm, assumed the role of chairman of the company's board. Hargaden was officially elected by shareholders in February 2020, alongside Christine Ourmieres-Widener and Mike McGearty, two new
non-executive director A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of the ...
s. In April 2020, the firm announced a wave of redundancies due to the impact of the
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. In July, it was reported that Dermot Desmond had agreed to provide an extra €10m debt provision, which Datalex could draw on "if required"; the billionaire at that point owned nearly 30% of the company. Later that month, Datalex's shares resumed trading after being suspended for almost 15 months, sliding almost 75% within a day. In a November 2020 trading update, the firm increased its predicted 2020
EBITDA A company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (commonly abbreviated EBITDA, pronounced , , or ) is a measure of a company's profitability of the operating business only, thus before any effects of indebtedness, stat ...
from $0.75m to $1.5m to between $3.75m and $4.5m after it reported the renewal of a "significant" Chinese contract.


See also

*
List of companies of Ireland This is a list of notable companies based in Ireland, or subsidiaries according to their sector. It includes companies from the entire island. The state of the Republic of Ireland covers five-sixths of the island, with Northern Ireland, part of th ...


References


External links

* {{authority control Software companies of Ireland Irish companies established in 1985 Companies listed on Euronext Dublin Companies based in Dublin (city)