Internet security firm Baltimore's share price fell over 20% today to 67p sterling at the London close, after the company announced it was cutting 250 jobs.
50 jobs will go in its Irish operations and a further 200 jobs world wide, but chief executive Fran Rooney said further jobs cuts could not be ruled out. The move is part of the company's £30 million cost cutting strategy.
This morning Baltimore announced first quarter revenues of £23.7 million sterling, and underlying losses of £17.2 million sterling, giving a loss per share of 14.5 pence.
Baltimore shares tumbled in London after the news of the job-cutting plan. The stock, already a fraction of peaks of around £15 sterling seen just over a year ago, closed down 20% at 67p.
The majority of job losses, which equate to nearly 20% of the company's global workforce, will be in the US and UK.
'We are going through quite a significant economic downturn,' said chief executive Fran Rooney in a conference call with journalists. 'The most important thing is for us to manage costs and we're doing that.'
'We continue to believe strongly in the significant market opportunity for our products and services.'
Baltimore, which issued two revenue warnings in quick succession earlier this year, said it aimed to make annual savings of £30 to £35 million. The company said it remained confident about the long-term opportunities for e-security, but that 'until such time as the economic conditions improve it is appropriate to base current plans on comparatively modest revenue growth'.
On the issue of predicting revenues, Rooney said Baltimore was in a space where it was difficult to predict revenues in the current climate. Entrust, a company also engaged in the security technology recently said it could not issue revenue guidance at the moment.
Baltimore said it had revised its sales and marketing strategy to focus on the core areas of authentication, access control and content security.
In a management shake-up, Paddy Holahan is stepping down as executive vice president of marketing 'to pursue personal interests'. Executive vice president of global business development Aidan Gallagher takes over marketing and Denis Kelly is appointed executive vice president of global operations.
Baltimore's first quarter revenues were up 150% compared with the same period in 2000, but down 17% on the final quarter of last year.
Baltimore also announced two new deals, one with Scandinavian bank Nordia, the other with the Italian Ministry of the Interior.
