Michael Cowpland, president and CEO of ZIM. (Darren Brown, OBJ)

ZIM Corp. got in the black in fiscal 2008 after more than four years of being a public company, despite a continued decline in revenues.

The Ottawa-based provider of software and services for the database, mobile and Internet protocol television markets, which saw its first-ever profit in its third quarter, said it had net income of US$82,536 or 0.1 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $1.9 million or two cents per share a year earlier.

The company attributed the profit gain to a decrease in the costs of revenue relating to the decrease in revenues associated with its SMS aggregation, from which is has gradually been moving away from because of the difficulty in competing in a saturated market.

ZIM also said intangible assets related to its $1.1-million acquisition of U.S.-based Advanced Internet Services Inc. had been fully amortized and were no longer hitting its bottom line, and operating costs had been reduced.

"Our operational improvements, expense reductions and focus on higher-margin business segments are definitely reflected in our year-end results and should continue to benefit the company going forward," said ZIM chief executive Michael Cowpland in a statement.

Revenue edged down to $2.1 million from $2.2 million as a result of its decreased sales from its SMS aggregation business, and the company's cash balances dipped to $299,943 from $441,637.

However, the company also pointed out that it had no other outstanding debt.