Alarm bells ring at InTechnology

THE IT security firm presided over by former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Parkinson came under pressure today as it warned profits may fall below expectations.

Around £23m was wiped from its market value as shares in the Aim-listed company plunged 17p to 60p.

InTechnology fears margin pressure in its core security products reselling business in the third quarter may continue and it admitted there have been delays in implementing new data storage contracts.

Floated at the height of the dotcom boom in April 2000 to exploit expected growth in online business-to-business activity, the firm made Lord Parkinson chairman and the shares surged as high as 402½p.

Today, InTechnology, with Parkinson now non-executive president, warned that if margin pressure dragged on into the fourth quarter, group operating profits would suffer.

InTechnology boomed when it spotted a niche for managing business data by storing it in secret locations and signed up Harvey Nichols among others. The bulk of turnover now comes from reselling computer kit from the likes of IBM but InTechnology is suffering from a global slump in hardware prices.