News

Mediazest, which supplies screens and other display units for advertising, saw pre-tax losses rise to £342,000 in the first half from a loss of £223,000 previously, but said it expects an improved performance in the second half of the year.

"The directors anticipate that the longer term opportunities we have cultivated over the last two years will begin to bear fruit in 2009," said the group.

"However, the out-of-home market remains in its development stage and therefore particularly vulnerable to the vicissitudes of the unprecedented market and financial conditions the whole economy is experiencing currently."

Sovereign Oilfield said trading in its shares has been suspended as it is unable to publish its report and accounts for the year ended 31 March by 30 September. The Aberdeen-based group is renegotiating its lending arrangements.

"Whilst the board believes that this process will conclude successfully, the directors recognise, given the state of the banking sector, that there is uncertainty as to the time it will take to conclude such negotiations," it said.

ClearSpeed Technology said it will carry out a further restructuring to cut costs as it reported pre-tax losses of £5.41m in the six month 30 June compared with a loss of £6.70m last time.

Mobestar has continued to accelerate its contract rollout with new customers, but revenues associated with these contracts have been slower that expected. The mobile phone entertainment group said this has resulted in the company experiencing working capital constraints.

As a result, in the short term, Mobestar is seeking to raise further funds by the issue of new ordinary shares. The company said it is in discussions with a number of parties and will make a further announcement in due course.

Bid target and waste management group Bioganix's sales and profits marked time in the half-year to June. Sales were little changed at £1.1m, while losses rose to £591,000 from £513,000. "The combined impact of lower revenues, market-place pressures and higher operating costs is putting significant pressure on the group's cash resources," it said, adding it is exploring its strategic options. Bioganix announced a bid approach yesterday.

A subsidiary of Elixir Petroleum has received a $9m bill from a seismic contractor working on Block SL-4, located offshore the Republic of Sierra Leone. The bill follows the failure of Elixir's partner Prontinal to meet outstanding payments with respect to the 3D seismic acquisition project.

Irish zinc explorer Connemara Mining saw operating costs increase five-fold as it stepped up drilling activity on its licensed prospects in Limerick.

Operating costs in the first half of 2008 rose to €181,000 from €36,000 the year before. Loss before tax widened to €236,000 from €29,000. The company does not earn any revenue at present.

Cosmetic and medical laser systems firm Chromogenex lost £640,000 in the first half as sales halved to £1.13m, but annual cost savings of £0.5m are expected.

It blamed a lack of credit available for financing sales of products typically leased by customers, and was unable to sell in key markets pending regulatory approval.

Specialist lender Impact Holdings narrowed losses for the year from operations before tax to £973,000 from £6.51m in 2007 as revenue rose to £1.59m from £1.08m.

"Following a difficult initial trading period and the uncertain market conditions seen over the past twelve months ongoing operations have proved difficult as we continue to re-structure the business and recruit new management and operational personnel," said boss Paul Davies.

Security systems provider Westminster Group doubled interim revenue to £1.4m, although losses grew to £413,000 from £182,000 as administrative expenses soared to £818,000. The order book leapt almost three-fold to £4.3m.

Miner and mineral processor Alexander Mining said its processing technologies were likely to benefit from a buoyant metals market despite the recent correction in prices.

Reporting a widening in pre-tax losses to £2.2m in the 6 months from £1.3m, Alexander said its AmmLeach processing technology, which was developed at a copper project in Argentina, would help processors deal with rising costs.

Dealogic, a provider of software to the investment banking industry, reported a slump in profits as challenging global capital market conditions hit revenues.

Profit before tax in the first half of 2008 fell by 34% to $12.4m as turnover slipped 5% to $43.9m.

Oil exploration company Petrel Resources said it was making progress in establishing operations in Iraq after a period of difficult negotiations.

"The Ministry of Oil's State Company for Oil Projects advised that they wanted to resolve all outstanding issues, technical and commercial, pragmatically," managing director David Horgan said.

"This augurs well for our plans to accelerate and broaden our oil exploration and development interests in Iraq."

Pre-tax losses in the six months to June 30 widened to €417,000 from €304,000 over the same period a year ago.

Shares in pesticide company TyraTech fell more than 40% after sales of its products in new markets failed to meet expectations.

The company reported sales of $823,000 in the six months to June 30, compared to zero over the same period a year ago. Pre-tax losses narrowed to $8.9m from $9.9m.

"As we have pushed forward successfully to gain entry into certain new markets, we have experienced lower than originally targeted rates of initial return," chief executive Douglas Armstrong said.

Biomarker testing services provider NextGen saw pre-tax losses in the first half of 2008 widen to £1.3m from £1.27m a year earlier, on sales that eased 4% to £1.03m from £1.07m.

The company said that the nature of its business makes the timing of cash inflows unpredictable, and this may hamper plans for growth. The directors are committed to seeking alternative funding levels to ensure that growth plans can be adequately financed.

The chairman of YCO Deuxmill has resigned to pursue other interests. Laurence Milton has resigned as a director of the supplier of services to super yachts, but will remain as a consultant to the company for a 12-month period.

Milton will be succeeded by Peter Jay, currently a non-executive director of the company.

Home shopping group Flying Brands said it is taking action to offset the impact of poor weather, the increase in the global prices of grain and the rise in stem costs and postal charges.