i-flex edged up 2% to Rs 816.10 on Wednesday after its noted banking product Flexcube won a fresh order from a Zimbabwe bank.

The news pushed the scrip higher to close to the day's high of Rs 818.10. Volumes on the counter were only modest with 22,000 shares changing hands on BSE by the end of the first half of trading on Wednesday.

The stock has been witnessing volatile trends after staging a smart rally from its July 2002 low of Rs 450-460.

The stock has been boosted by a number of order wins for Flexcube over the last few months and also due to the entry of i-flex in the US markets, which is one of the largest markets for the banking, financial and insurance space.

i-flex on Wednesday announced that First Banking Corporation Zimbabwe has selected Flexcube to upgrade its existing IT infrastructure and centralise its operations. It won the order following a highly competitive bid and evaluation process, i-Flex said. The bank will be deploying Flexcube Core Module, Flexcube Corporate, Channels, Flexcube Investor Services, Flexcube Dealer and Flexcube @- Internet Banking Application.

For i-flex, the products business contributed a majority of the revenues of 65% and the remaining 35% stems from services business.

i-flex is planning an added focus on the emerging areas of consumer banking technology in the areas of customer interaction and customer knowledge with a view to providing value-added service to its global banking clients.

i-flex came out with robust Q3 results. I-Flex's net profit, on a consolidated basis, surged 117% in Q3 December 2002 to Rs 59 crore compared to Rs 27.18 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Revenues increased 50% to Rs 174 crore (Rs 1.74 billion) from Rs 115.66 crore (Rs 1.15 billion) in DQ 2001.

The company, which heavily depended on Citibank for business till recently, has seen its client concentration improving of late. According to a recent research report by Morgan Stanley, Citibank's contribution to revenues has decreased to 68% in DQ 2002 from 73% in SQ 2003. Its blended billing rates have moved up 3% sequentially with offshore rates moving up 5% and onsite rates dropping marginally.

Citigroup currently owns 43.19% (47.5% stake before the public issue) in the company.