Ebix London Invasion Sends Stock Gapping Up To Record High
Ebix ( EBIX ), a provider of software for the insurance industry, saw its shares surge Friday after the company announced that it had signed a new contract to launch a single insurance exchange in London. The deal means that Ebix will deploy a single platform that will facilitate the payment of insurance, as well as capturing and processing risks electronically. In a press release , Ebix said that the new contract will generate more than $75 million over the next five years, or about $15 million per year. Ebix posted 2015 revenue of $265 million, up 24%, its biggest rise in four years. “It is the first time in the world that a single exchange platform is being deployed to facilitate electronic placement of insurance across a market comprised of all the constituents,” Ebix CEO Robin Raina said in the release. “That it is being done by the largest insurance marketplace in the world — London — makes this a particularly significant event in the global insurance market.” Frenzied investors drove the stock up as much as 13% Friday to an all-time high of 45.84, topping its former high, which dates to 1988. Ebix stock was up 11% in early afternoon trading on the stock market today , still above 45. Ebix stock broke out of a cup base at 38.36 on March 1, and in the past few days shares have cleared resistance they saw around 42.