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LONDON (Alliance News) - AIM-listed On-Line PLC on Tuesday said it had swung to a pretax profit in first half of its financial year from a loss the previous year, as administrative expenses came in lower, and said it was "working hard to push ADVFN".
On-Line is an investment company whose sole investment is a 18.26% stake in financial information provider ADVFN PLC, making it ADVFN's largest shareholder. In turn, On-Line is 19.96% owned by ADVFN Chief Executive Officer Clement Chambers and 17.82% by ADVFN Chairman Michael Hodges, according to Morningstar.
As a result On-Line's performance is reliant on the performance of ADVFN.
On-Line reported pretax profit of GBP4,000 for the six months to December 31, versus a loss of GBP2,000 for the corresponding period the previous year, despite revenue coming in lower at GBP41,000 from GBP48,000.
This was due to lower administrative expenses of GBP37,000, down from GBP50,000 previously.
On-Line noted a statement from ADVFN, which said sales were depressed following "a tumultuous year" and "sluggish bear market", but which added that operating overheads were reduced "significantly" over the period.
"The early effects of this can be seen in a fall of administrative expenses for the half year by 11% to GBP4.2 million from GBP4.7 million," Hodges said.
On Thursday last week, ADVFN reported a pretax loss of GBP471,000 in the six months ended December 31, 2015, compared with a GBP590,000 pretax loss in the corresponding period of the prior year, on revenue of GBP4.3 million, down from GBP4.8 million.
Shares in On-Line closed down 10% at 20.20 pence on Tuesday, while ADVFN was untraded at 27.00p.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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