Cohort Share News (CHRT)

Specialised care home operator Caretech's revenue grew by 23% to £83.4m (2008: £67.7m) while profit before tax rose by 45% to £15.3m (2008: £10.5m). The dividend for the year rises by 25% to 4.7p. "The pressures on public spending are well documented and will inevitably result in local authorities seeking cost-effective solutions to satisfy their duty of social care, but we look forward with confidence that the group can deliver further growth from the opportunities that arise," Caretech added.Security software group Cohort has warned problems at its SCS arm will mean profit this year coming in significantly below last year's. Profit plunged from £1.2m from £2.6m in the half year to October, after losses of £0.9m at its SCS subsidiary. Revenue rose 10% to £37.3m (2008: £33.9m). The group's order book at 31 October 2009 stood at £60.2m. £26.7m of this order book is deliverable in the second half. Speech recognition software group Eckoh's interim profit before tax came in at £0.18m, compared with £0.21m for the full year 2008/9 and £0.18m for the same period last year. Turnover fell to £8.6m, from £9.98m. Speech Solutions revenue grew 15% to £3.8m."The IVR business performed slightly worse than expected due to reduced call volumes from the print and publishing clients owing to the sale or closure of titles and falling circulations. Despite this, as a result of the successful roll out of speech contracts won last year and during the period, the Group expects the profitability for the full year to still be substantially ahead of last year," Eckoh added.Interactive digital broadcasting company Cellcast said its associated company in India, Cellcast Asia Holdings, is trading strongly in the second half of 2009, and is 'well positioned for significant growth as sector leader in a market that is continuing to grow very rapidly.'In the UK, the company has stuck with its plan to invest in securing new distribution outlets for services on both Freesat and Freeview. This has entailed significant upfront costs, and though the company expects to recoup the cost of these investments in the second half of 2010, the costs will put a dent in the group's performance in the second half of 2009.