Baltimore chief quits

The chief executive of troubled internet security firm Baltimore Technologies has quit.

Whoever had been in charge at Baltimore would not have been able to do any better

Tony Craze, Chestows stockbrokers

Fran Rooney, who is also deputy chairman of the Irish-based firm, which was once the star of the stock market's high-tech sector, is leaving after five years to "pursue other interests".

Baltimore's stock has plunged more than 95% to just over 20p from a boom-time high of £15 early last year.

Finance Director Paul Sanders will act as interim chief executive until the firm found a permanent successor to Mr Rooney.

Job losses

Earlier this year Baltimore shed 250 jobs and last week looked toward another "significant number" of redundancies.

Mr Rooney: 'pursuing other interests'

Baltimore shares soared to dizzy heights after it was listed on both the Nasdaq Composite in New York and the FTSE 100 list of leading share performers in London.

But the company was a casualty of the downturn in the international internet and computer sector.

Its shares rose by nearly 20% to 23.5p on the London Stock Exchange, after the news of Mr Rooney's departure.

Mr Rooney, a former professional soccer player, bought out the then-private Baltimore in 1996, with backing from Irish businessman Dermot Desmond.

He shifted its focus from data security consulting to development of public key infrastructure (PKI) products to enable secure commerce over the internet.

Fran Rooney

Former professional soccer player and head of National Irish Bank's credit card division

Bought-out Baltimore in 1996 when it had six people

It now employs 1,200 people in 46 offices worldwide

Voted Irish businessperson of the year in 2000

It rapidly built up an impressive client list for its e-commerce software, including Chase Manhattan Bank, American Express, MasterCard and Visa.

Mr Sanders said on Tuesday he would focus on current market challenges to bring the troubled group out of its slump.

"Our focus is on building a solid basis for taking Baltimore forward," Mr Sanders said.

He said Baltimore had "significant cash resources" to take it forward.

'Good manager'

Commenting on Mr Rooney's departure, Tony Craze, of Christows stockbrokers, said: "It is only 18 months ago that Fran was voted businessman of the year in Ireland," Mr Craze told BBC News 24.

"I believe personally that he is a very good manager of a business...whoever had been in charge at Baltimore would not have been able to do any better and probably not quite as well as Fran has done."

Orbital resignation

Meanwhile, the chief executive of Scottish software company Orbital, Kevin Dorren has become another casualty of the high-tech slump.

Mr Dorren said he was resigning on Tuesday, following a sharp fall in turnover.

The company, which floated on the stock market in a blaze of publicity last year, blamed the postponement of key orders for a deterioration in software sales.

Autonomy hope

Software group Autonomy provided a ray of hope for technology investors, saying that sales would meet City expectations.

The Cambridge-based company, which has seen its share price decimated in recent months, said it had been encouraged by the fact that most customers had taken up orders deferred from the previous quarter.

But it warned that economic concerns continued to affect spending patterns and cause further contacts to be delayed.

In a second quarter trading statement, Autonomy said revenues for the three months to 30 June were likely to be in line with market forecasts at between £9.9m to £10.7m.

The performance is in contrast to three months ago when Autonomy's shares tumbled an initial 63% following a first-quarter profits warning.

Revenues for the first quarter were £10.5m.

Shares down

Dr Mike Lynch, chief executive, said the majority of those deferred contracts from the first quarter had now been signed "rather than cancelled outright or awarded to others."

He added: "We reported the lengthening of product purchasing cycles at the time of our Q1 results and this continues to be the case across multiple territories."

But the markets were unconvinced by Autonomy's upbeat words.

Although its shares opened up 28p at 410p, on the news, they fell back to 363 by early afternoon, down 5.2% on Monday's close.

The company makes software which allows firms to sort through unstructured information such as that held on e-mails or websites.

But fears of increased competition and the recent bloodbath among tech stocks has seen its shares price plummet in the last few months.

The stock fell out of the FTSE 100 Index earlier this year.