Payments software company Trintech warned yesterday that it would not meet the market's expectations with its second-quarter sales performance and would have to post a loss.
In an early statement of its results, Trintech said its revenues for the three months to the end of July would be between $12.25 million (€9.85 million) and $12.75 million.
This compared to analysts' forecasts of about $14 million, with Trintech attributing the shortfall primarily to "a slowdown in demand for chip and pin solutions in Europe".
The firm's statement also pointed to delays in the adoption of payment solutions that use EMV, a new set of specifications designed by Visa and Mastercard.
As well as preparing the market for lower-than-expected sales, Trintech said an extension of warranties on some faulty products would lead to an exceptional charge of $4 million in the quarter. The firm expects that the charge will push it into a net loss of between $3.7 million and $3.9 million for the period.
It went on to say it remains focused on growing both market share and profits in its payments business.
The company also pointed out that its transaction software division did well over the second quarter, thus helping to compensate for a fall-off in hardware sales.
In turn, the statement said, this should allow margins before the exceptional charge to come in between 60 and 64 per cent, in line with earlier guidance.
