(Alliance News) - Barkby Group PLC on Monday issued its maiden interim results, reporting a widened loss on increased costs.
Shares in Barkby - which has businesses in real estate, consumer & hospitality and life sciences - were down 8.4% in London on Monday at 15.11 pence each.
Barkby listed on AIM in early January, switching its shares from the NEX Exchange.
For the seven months to December 31, Barkby reported a pretax loss of GBP448,530, widened from GBP17,880 a year before.
The interim loss was attributed to the GBP211,000 costs related to its Dickson Controlled Entities reverse takeover. Barkby also incurred GBP250,000 in restructuring costs in the period.
Excluding these exceptional items, Barkby made a small profit in the period.
Turnover, however, jumped year on year to GBP7.6 million from GBP1.8 million.
The increase was attributed to the acquisition of car dealership Centurian Automotive Ltd in February 2019.
Barkby's administrative costs rose to GBP8.1 million from GBP1.8 million the year before.
"2019 was a year of operational improvements for Barkby and since the acquisition of the Dickson Controlled Entities in January 2020, Barkby has benefited from becoming a significantly larger and more diverse group of businesses," Chief Executive Charles Dickson said.
Dickson added: "Our Commercial Property Development business is by far the largest contributor to the group's profitability so whilst we are undoubtedly seeing our hospitality businesses impacted by the current Covid-19 pandemic, the board expects the impact of this on the group's full year earnings to be largely mitigated by the resilience of our Commercial Property Development business. Our business is well positioned financially and despite the current uncertainty, we look forward to the future with confidence."
Shares in Barkby Group were 8.4% lower in London on Monday at 15.11 pence each.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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