Phorm lost almost $30 million in 2009

Losses

Phorm has confirmed it lost $29.7 million (19.8 million) last year following the postponement of its UK launch.

The company is now set to pull many of its operations out of the UK and move them over to Brazil in an attempt to save cash and rejuvenate the company.

The technology the company is famed for tracks internet user activity, allowing advertisers to target their products more effectively.

It came under a lot of scrutiny in the UK after it was discovered BT was secretly trialling the tech and there are still rumblings that a court case may appear against them.

In its preliminary results statement, the chairman and chief executive (CEO) Kent Ertugrul, said the company had "learnt a number of important lessons" from their experiences and were positive about their move to Brazil and partnership with sole ISP Oi.

"We have implemented a full opt-in approach in Brazil and have adapted our technology in such a way as to make it impossible to damage the browsing experience," he said.

"As a result, we believe that technical trials such as those undertaken by BT in 2008 are no longer necessary."

Despite its financial failings, Phorm is still able to bring in the bucks from investors to keep the company afloat.

Last year it received 15 million from private investors but the firm admitted it will need more over the next year to make up for delays in "commercial deployment" of its technology.

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.