The Finextra50 Financial Technology Index closed down 3.03% to 53.13 last week. GlobeOp led the fallers, losing almost half its share value on concerns about the strength of the hedge fund industry, while Online Resources, Actuate and EXLService rose on the back of trading outlook and strategic announcements.
Gainers
Online Resources was the index's biggest gainer last week, rising 14.15% to $3.63 by market close on Friday. In a trading update the online banking and billing vendor provided guidance for first quarter and full year 2009, and confirmed that full-year 2008 revenue would be in line with analyst expectations. It is currently predicting a net loss for full-year 2008 with losses narrowing in 2009.
Actuate rose 12.17% to close Friday at $2.95. On Thursday it announced its intention to increase the price it will pay in a share buy-back scheme after it received an unsolicited buyout bid.
The company did not identify its suitor, but said that although it received an unsolicited proposal to buy all of its outstanding stock for $3.50 per share, the board determined the offer is not in the best interest of shareholders.
The repurchase tender offer is being done as a modified Dutch auction, the the company says it will repurchase shares for $3 to $3.50
Shares in the business intelligence software vendor, which traded as high as $7.97 in January, are down 70.8 percent for the year.
Business process outsourcing (BPO) firm EXLService Holdings finished Friday up 10.85% on the previous week to $7.87, continuing a positive trend that began when it announced in late November that it was eyeing acquisitions in the range of $50-70 million, potentially in Eastern Europe.
LPS rose 9.66% to $24.19 after a court case, which alleged the firm recieved illegal “kick-backs” of fees charged to attorneys on behalf of the servicers the firm works with, was dismissed. The oustourcing company, which maintains the United States' largest mortgage default management outsourcing operation, also benefited from news that it has been retained by Wells Fargo to help it integrate Wachovia's lending portfolio.
Losers
While there was some good news in the mortgage and loans outsourcing sector, hedge fund outsourcing specialist GlobeOp had a dire week, losing 49.13% of its share value to close Friday at 58.75p.
News published last week by Hedge Fund Research showed that hedge funds worldwide, which once wooed investors with promises of strong returns in all market conditions, on average lost 17.70 percent in the first 11 months of 2008.
Other companies to see significant decreases last week include:
Index comparison
Methodology
More information on the Finextra50 Financial Technology Index methodology and constituent stocks can be found here.