Net earnings for the quarter were $362,000 compared to net earnings of $131,000 in the same quarter a year ago. The Company's net earnings per share in the quarter were $0.03 per share on a fully diluted basis, up from net earnings per share of $0.01 in Q1 2004, and a net loss of $(0.06) per share in Q4 2004.

"We have seen steady growth in the electronic options business, quarter over quarter, due to our growing customer base and acceptance of our products," said Sid H. Belzberg, CEO of Belzberg Technologies. "Increasing customer reliance on our options trading platform pushed options volumes to 6.3 million contracts traded in Q1 2005, compared with 4.9 million contracts in Q4 2004 and 1.8 million contracts in Q1 2004. Our U.S. equity order flow grew from 1.2 billion shares executed in Q1 2004 to 1.5 billion executed in Q4 2004, compared to 1.6 billion shares executed in Q1 2005."

"All of these growth factors, plus the continued cost reductions and product development initiatives - including the roll out of our high-speed, Direct
Data Feeds replacing third party data feeds - are a recipe for continued improvements in both earnings and profit margins," he added.

"I am particularly encouraged by the year over year gain of recurring transaction revenues derived from the execution of electronic equities and options" said Richard Maisel, the Company's CFO.Download the document now 39.8 kb (Adobe Acrobat Document)