Flying high: Phoenix profits soaring
Orlando Business Journal - by Paul Dillon Staff Writer
HEATHROW -- Phoenix International Ltd. Inc. is launching an aggressive hiring program after racking up record-high sales in 1997.
The banking software developer plans to hire 80 more programmers and project managers by the end of 1998, says Bahram Yusefzadeh, chairman and CEO. Positions pay between $40,000 and $65,000 a year.
Driving the need for more manpower is a recent surge in demand for Phoenix products: Sales jumped 72 percent to $17.8 million in 1997 while earnings rose 37 percent to $3 million, or 68 cents a share.
To accommodate the additional workers, Phoenix is looking for another 10,000 to 15,000 square feet of office space, Yusefzadeh says. The 5-year-old company presently employs 175 at its 50,000-square-foot headquarters in Heathrow.
Phoenix targets small and midsized banks for its "client-server" software, which handles such functions as customer management, loan processing, profitability analysis and Internet banking.
In contrast to mainframe computer systems -- the traditional banking system -- client-server systems consist of groups of personal computers that use a computer hub called a server to jointly work on processing tasks.
Yusefzadeh attributes much of his company's success to "the recent acceptance of client-server technology around the world. It's no longer a question of, does this type of thing work?"
In the last three months of 1997, Phoenix signed up 12 new customers, bringing its total client base to 77.
Meanwhile, other financial software companies are stepping up their efforts to tap into the promising client-server market -- or keeping their clients outfitted with mainframe systems by cautioning against the alternative technology.
"At the end of the day, the competition is coming from all the players in banking software," says Robert Bolen, an analyst with investment bank J.C. Bradford & Co. in Nashville, Tenn. "There is a small number of pure client-server software companies competing against Phoenix, and the big banking software companies (such as Fiserv and Jack Henry & Associates) are all trying to convince banks they don't need to go the client-server route."
Based on its performance in 1997, Phoenix should remain a leader in client-server technology as well as enjoy a higher profile for itself in the broader banking software field, Bolen predicts.
"The main thing I see them doing right is investing in the continued development of their product and the infrastructure to deliver the product," he says. "They're a leader today, but they must keep expanding the functionality of their product."
Yusefzadeh pledges to keep his company out front by hiring talented software professionals and launching bolder sales programs.
"We hope to widen the distance between ourselves and our competitors during 1998," he says.
Yusefzadeh, who was born in Iran and came to the United States in 1963, worked for banking software firm Kirchman Corp. in Altamonte Springs from 1986 to 1992.
He left Kirchman -- after serving as head of three of its divisions -- to start his own company with $1 million in loans and personal savings.
Phoenix later received $2.5 million in additional private investment.
The company went public with its stock on NASDAQ in July 1996, raising $10 million.
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