* Founder and co-CEO Alastair Lukies to step down
* To focus on Europe, Middle East and North America sales
* Will improve under-performing businesses, exit non-coreareas
* Reiterates 2015 revenue guidance of 90 mln-100 mln stg
* Shares fall as much as 22 pct (Adds background, details)
March 25 (Reuters) - British mobile-banking software makerMonitise Plc said it was no longer looking to sellitself and that its founder and co-CEO Alastair Lukies wouldstep down, handing over full executive control to ElizabethBuse.
Shares in the company fell as much as 22 percent in earlytrading, making the stock one of the top losers on the LondonStock Exchange.
Monitise, which named long-time Visa executive Buse asco-CEO last June, put itself on the block in January, blamingchanges in its business model for its third revenue warning in ayear.
U.S. tech giant FIS, Mastercard and IBM had all been named as potential suitors. (http://bit.ly/1vQGgSK)
Monitise said it had received a number or "expressions ofinterest from various parties" but concluded that none of theproposals recognised the longer term value of the company.
The company would now focus on sales in Europe, the MiddleEast and North America and look at improving itsunder-performing businesses and exit non-core business areas, itsaid in a statement on Wednesday.
Founded in 2003, Monitise blazed a trail by linking banksand mobile operators to build a business capable of handlingmore than $70 billion a year in mobile payments, purchases andmoney transfers.
But the former high-tech darling has come up against toughcompetition from the free mobile payment systems offered bycompanies such as Google Inc and Apple Inc.
The company reiterated its 2015 revenue guidance of 90million to 100 million pounds and a core loss of 40 million to50 million pounds.
"Monitise remains on track to become EBITDA profitable in FY2016," Buse said in the statement.
The company added that it would look at additionalfunctionalities for its Monitise Central Platform, depending oncustomer demand. The platform is to be launched in April.
BTIG analysts pointed out in a note earlier this month thatthe platform was key to reigniting growth.
Monitise also appointed Stephen Shurrock, CEO of Consumer atTelefónica within the commercial and digital unit, as anon-executive director representing strategic shareholdersTelefónica and Santander.
Visa Europe, Visa Inc, Banco Santander and Telefonica SA areamong Monitise's top 10 shareholders.
Monitise shares were down 13.9 percent at 15.5 pence at 0941GMT in heavy volume trading. The stock has lost about 10 percentsince the company put itself on the block. (Reporting by Aashika Jain and Roshni Menon in Bengaluru;Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)
