French financial technology vendor GL Trade is looking to the US and Asia for growth as consolidation among financial intermediaries on its home turf restricts sales.
GL Trade has reported sales of €43m for the first quarter of 2005, 20% up on Q1 2004. This figure includes €7.5m in sales for Ubitrade, ahead of expectations and €1m from US order routing network Davidge Data Systems (DDS) both acquired in the fourth quarter last year.
However the historical trading business saw a fall in sales of 3.7% as a result of M&A activity in Europe. GL Trade says the biggest impact comes from the merger of Crédit Agricole and Crédit Lyonnais, which will reduce sales by €2m over the course of 2005.
The firm has responded to this fundamental trend by enriching its offering in the area of order management and expanding its client base to include buy-side players, through partnerships with sell-side clients.
Sales in the US grew by four per cent over the quarter while Asian market sales grew by 32.5% as the economic recovery gained momentum.
GL Trade maintains its 15% sales growth target over the whole year at constant exchange rates, and continues to expect Ebita margin of between 18% and 19% and net margin of around 13%. Full P&L figures for the quarter will be released at the end of the month.