Datalex, the retail software provider for airlines, has said it is continuing to weigh fresh funding options as it comes within days of relying on another backstop loan facility from businessman Dermot Desmond.
Chairman David Hargaden thanked shareholders at the Dublin-listed company’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday for their support last year as it raised €25 million in a share sale, mainly to repay expensive loans from Mr Desmond.
The billionaire had been a consistent provider of finance since the company was rocked in 2019 by an accounting scandal and, subsequently, the Covid-19 pandemic.
Datalex had raised a similar amount of equity in 2021, also mainly to refinance a previous loan from Mr Desmond.
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However, the businessman, a long-standing shareholder, had been the biggest participant in both equity raises, resulting in his stake reaching 49.3 per cent.
Datalex, which expects to return to positive earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) for the first time in five years in 2025, had flagged last year that it planned to raise a further €5 million capital in the first half of this year to invest in its product offering.
It revealed in its annual report, published last month, that Mr Desmond’s Tireragh vehicle was prepared to offer a new €5 million loan facility if the planned equity raise was not completed by June 30th. It said such a loan would be repayable by the end of September 2026, and likely be on similar terms as the facility that was repaid last year. That ended up carrying an 18 per cent annual rate of interest.
“Datalex continues to actively explore funding options and any developments will be appropriately disclosed to the market in due course,” a spokesman for the company said in response to questions from The Irish Times on Thursday after the agm.
[ Datalex targets positive earnings for first time in five yearsOpens in new window ]
Mr Hargaden and chief executive Jonathan Rockett did not make any reference to the backstop or planned capital raise at the agm. They did not receive any questions from shareholders during the meeting.
It is believed, however, that the board is eager to proceed with a capital raise in the coming months.
Datalex’s loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation widened 7 per cent last year to $3.1 million (€2.65 million).
Revenue dipped 5 per cent last year to $27.5 million. However, within this, platform revenue jumped 24 per cent to $16.1 million as services revenue slid 27 per cent to $10 million, driven by Virgin Australia scrapping a plan to overhaul its retail offering in 2023 and Scandinavian airline SAS not proceeding with a Datalex product as it filed for bankruptcy protection the same year.
