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

ZIM Corp. is still gaining year-over-year despite sliding back into losses territory in its first quarter, according to a statement put out by the Ottawa company Monday.

Net loss for the quarter ended June 30 was US$35,411, about a third of the $97,397 loss that was posted at the same time last year.

Increased gross margins, decreased selling expenses and more revenue from database services products helped propel the quarter-over-quarter gain, the corporation said.

"We are continuing to benefit from our operational improvements and expense reductions," added ZIM president and CEO Michael Cowpland in the statement.

ZIM provides software and services for the database, mobile and Internet protocol television markets.

Revenue for this past quarter was US$439,330, a 19-per-cent decrease from the $538,027 posted for the same quarter last year.

ZIM attributed the revenue decrease to a profits decline in its mobile divison.

This quarter's loss comes on the heels of ZIM's first profit gain in fiscal 2008, with its first quarterly profit of US$82,536 or 0.1 cents per share seen in the third quarter of that year.

At the time, the company said its movement away from SMS aggregation helped cut costs as it was avoiding competing in an already saturated market.