Patsystems buys into derivatives

Financial software concern Patsystems has accompanied a move into quarterly operating profitability with the £3.8 million purchase of derivatives-focused Tamesis.

AIM-quoted Patsystems, which supplies electronic trading technology at home and abroad, is paying £62,000 cash for loss-making Tamesis, whose award-winning decision support and risk management systems offer 'solutions' in structured finance and credit derivatives. Patsystems is also taking on the target company's net debt of £300,000 and will, in addition, pay up to £3.5 million by issuing shares at 15p between now and September 2007 if performance targets are met.

That could give private Tamesis' vendors, including venture capitalists, up to 13.5 per cent of Patsystems. Tamesis lost £373,000 on sales of £920,000 last year, but its management accounts for the current year apparently show a reduced rate of loss.

Patsystems itself, run by chief executive officer Kevin Ashby, cut its own pre-tax losses from £1.8 million to £558,000 in the six months to June on turnover up 45 per cent to £7.7 million, after losing £2.9 million in its last full year. At the operating level, the London-based company broke even in the first half and made a £322,000 operating profit in the second quarter.

That and the prospect of new product launches, together with the Tamesis deal, encourage Ashby to assert that Patsystems can now 'go forward on much firmer foundations than for many years'. Floated in early 2003 at 4.5p by broker Seymour Pierce, Patsystems shares have fluctuated between 19p and 11p over the past 12 months and are now 15p, down 0.5p this morning, where they have speculative potential.