The Provost of Trinity College Dublin, Dr John Hegarty (left) presents Chris Horn of IONA Technologies with the TCD Innovation Award in September 2006. IONA Technologies was founded in the IDA-backed TCD Innovation Centre, by three former TCD lecturers from the Department of Computer Science.

IONA Technologies, the Irish software company that is listed on the US Nasdaq stockmarket and also in Dublin, today announced preliminary results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2007.

IONA expects fourth quarter 2007 revenue of approximately $18 million - 21% below the same quarter in 2006.

The company expects fourth quarter 2007 total expenses of approximately $20.5 million, which includes approximately $2.1 million of stock based compensation expense, amortization of purchased intangibles and a one-time facilities charge.

The company expects the fourth quarter 2007 ending cash balance to be approximately $56 million.

The news sent the share price plunging 23.61% in Dublin.

"Weakness in our largest vertical market, financial services, was the major contributor to the delay in closing transactions at the end of the year," said Peter Zotto, CEO, IONA. "To achieve our target margin model and return to our goal of solid profitability in 2008, we are taking meaningful cost reduction actions. We will report our final fourth quarter and full year 2007 results on January 24th, 2008."

IONA employs 365 worldwide, with 115 staff based in Dublin and also reported a loss in Q2 2007.