Internet security company Baltimore Technologies has appointed Bijan Khezri as its new chief executive officer following the departure of Fran Rooney in July.
Mr Khezri rejoined the Baltimore board in July after a previous spell as a non-executive director.
He takes over the running of the company from interim CEO Paul Sanders, who has also resigned as chief financial officer. Mr Khezri will assume responsibility for finance while a new CFO is found.
In August, Baltimore announced restructuring plans involving hundreds of lay-offs in an attempt to cope with the technology downturn. Mr Khezri told OnBusiness this morning that the restructuring plans were on track and the company still hoped to be profitable by the middle of 2002.
Baltimore voluntarily delisted from the Nasdaq last month, which means it no longer has to issue quarterly results. Today, however, it released unaudited third quarter figures which show revenues of £15m sterling, down from £20.1m in the same period last year, and a cash balance of £32.4m, compared with £53.9m at the end of the second quarter.
Davy analyst Barry Dixon says that at that level of cash burn, Baltimore has less than two quarters of cash reserves. Overall, he says, the outlook remains very uncertain for the company.
Baltimore shares surged by over 14% in London to close at 16 pence sterling this evening.
