News

Eruma saw annual pre-tax losses widen but the security blind manufacturer said the outlook for 2007 remains strong.

Pre-tax losses rose to £878,000 compared to £373,000 last year on revenue up to £548,000 from £93,000 in the previous period.

"I am confident that we will continue to deliver high levels of growth for the remainder of the year," said chairman Philip Barnett.

Shares in Immedia Broadcasting jumped after the tailored in-store radio provider announced it has won a contract with HSBC to continue HSBC Live!

The interactive radio station, which is broadcast to both staff and customers, will be rolled out to about 950 branches across the UK by the end of 2007.

In-car entertainment specialist Centurion Electronics saw pre-tax losses more than double and said it will have to raise funds to support growth.

Pre-tax losses on ordinary activities rose to £0.76m, more than last year's loss of £0.29m. Turnover fell to £2.4m compared to £3.7m previously.

The company said its Honda and Brunswick contracts are expected to generate profitable sales growth, adding that it expects to announce a further contract win before the end of this financial year.

"Based on current forecasts, the company will have insufficient working capital beyond October 2007 to fund the forecast sales growth for new contracts and therefore will need to put in place additional funding by that date," said chairman Ernst Kastner.

Oxford Biomedica said Viragen terminated a licence agreement with the gene therapy group after the US firm halted development of the OVA System, its avian transgenic programme.

"Viragen has notified Roslin Institute and Oxford BioMedica of its intent to terminate its research and license agreements, respectively," the group said in a statement.

"Over the coming weeks Oxford BioMedica and Roslin Institute will be exploring ways to advance this exciting technology, which has come from some truly superb science," it added.