News

Clothing group Marchpole Holdings said its finance director John Macaulay has resigned from the board and will leave the company by mutual agreement on 12 September to pursue personal interests.

The process to appoint a new finance director will begin immediately, it added.

Hybrid electric vehicle group Azure Dynamics boosted second quarter revenue by 470% to $3.4m due to record shipments of Balance Hybrid Electric, Azure CitiBus and Force Drive Electric products.

Higher levels of engineering expenses and negative gross margin pushed the net loss for the three months ended 30 June up to $8.1m from $6.9m a year earlier.

Silicon Valley-focused venture capital and consulting firm Berkeley Technology slipped into the red during the six months to 30 June with a net loss of $1.1m versus a $0.4m profit a year ago.

"We are operating in a much weaker economic environment this year. A $0.9m decrease in realized investment gains, a $0.3m reduction in consulting fee income and a $0.2m decline in investment income due to lower interest rates and insurance policy maturities contributed to the net loss for the first half of 2008," it said.

Genesis Petroleum saw pre-tax losses widen to £1.3m in the six month ended 30 June compared with £929,052 last time, in line with expectations.

Drilling decisions are anticipated on several Norwegian prospects during the early part of 2009, the group said.

"The company continues to review opportunities to farm-in to other acreage and also to farm-down on currently held acreage to optimise the risk profile of its exploration portfolio," it added.

Bus maker Optare has received a £2.3m order from London United, an operating subsidiary of Transdev, for 19 midi buses. The deal, thought to be the first for fully integral, twin door midi buses from a Transport for London operator, is due to deliver in the last quarter of this year.

Software tester SQS has been made a as Special Expertise Partner by SAP Germany and signed contracts worth €3.6m to provide testing services to a news & data service provider based in Switzerland and a European bank.

Ukraine property group XXI Century Investments has signed non-binding heads of terms with a major European developer over the sale of its logistics portfolio in the Ukraine.