Devro more than doubled first half pre-tax profit to £11m from £5m a year ago and the sausage skin maker expects the improving performance to continue through the second half.Profit before exceptional items for the six months ended 30 June 2009 rose 17% to £9.2m on sales up 27% to £105m. The interim dividend stays at 1.425p a share.Cash machine operator Cashbox has signed a deal to manage the 120 ATM machines of managed pub and bar restaurant business, Tattershall Castle Group. It has also signed five year contracts with London Town Plc, Reel Cinemas Ltd and Marbury Taverns Ltd, and a three year deal with Here For You Hospitality Ltd. Football gaming business Sportech remains confident about future prospects after raising half-year profit by 4% to £5.1m. "As we approach the start of the 2009/10 Football Season, which culminates in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Sportech has continued to improve its range of products, secured additional distribution and significantly enhanced its technological capabilities," said boss Ian Penrose.Kazakhstan-focused oil and gas explorer Max Petroleum has signed a two-year contract with Sun Drilling for a rig to drill two development wells then shallow and intermediate exploration prospects on Blocks A&E. Printed products group 4Imprint saw profits slump in the first half of 2009 despite higher revenues as it faced higher operating costs. The company, whose products are mainly used for corporate promotions, saw revenue climb by 4% from the same period the previous year to £80.96m, but pre-tax profit slid to £290,000 from £3.41m.4Imprint said it saw an improvement in sales in all divisions between the first and second quarters.Carbon trader and bid target EcoSecurities posted its first ever profit in the half year to June as revenues jumped to €11.6m from €4.8m. Pre-tax came in at €1.1m against a €10.0m loss this time last year. Issuance from the group's portfolio was 820,000 CERs net to EcoSecurities during the first half of 2009 (595,000 CERs for the first half of 2008).School's IT supplier RM anticipates revenue growth in FY-2009 as a result of the delivery of BSF contracts, the inclusion of Computrac and growth in our general education resources business. 'Trading in the first three quarters was supportive of expectations for the year as a whole. Activity since then has continued in line with management's plan and consequently our expectations for the year as a whole remain unchanged,' it said.Zotefoams has experienced very difficult market conditions in all major markets in the first half of 2009. Revenues decreased by 14% to £15.6m (2008: £18.1m) and profit before tax and exceptional items decreased to £1.59m (2008: £2.71m ). Pre-tax profits were £1.1m. The interim dividend is held at 1.5p. The board remains confident of a satisfactory outturn for the year as a whole. Gym memebership software specialist Gladstone has become a certified partner with Technogym UK Limited, The Wellness Company, a global market leader in the design and provision of fitness equipment. Telecoms network BATM Advanced shrugged off the downturn to post a 34.3% rise in interim profits as turnover hit a record.Pre-tax profits for the period totalled $13.7m, compared with $10.2m over the same period the previous year, as revenue climbed to $69m from $65.8m."Despite challenging global market conditions that have continued to affect our industry, we have succeeded in growing our revenues for a 6th successive year, with outstanding cash generation," said chief executive Zvi Marom.PR firm Next Fifteen Communications said adjusted profit before income tax for the year is expected to be in line with market expectations.The group said top line reported revenue at its subsidiary 463 Communication LLC will be ahead of expectations and will now be fully consolidated in its results. Excluding this, underlying revenues will be in line with expectations.Separately, it announced the acquisition of M Booth & Associates, a leading New York based consumer and B2B agency. Sportswear retailer JD Sports has acquired the European operations of Canterbury, the rugby shirt specialist, for £6.5m in cash from administration. IT systems firm Maxima saw results in line with revised market expectations. Higher exceptional items pushed the firm into pre-tax losses of £9.6m against profits of £5.2m last year on revenue that rose 21% to £56.6mSolid State surged after posting pre-tax profits of £614,501 (2008: £424,442) on revenue of £12,521,786 (2008: £10,724,333).
