Last checked at 
LONDON (Alliance News) - Provexis PLC on Tuesday said it remains positive about its outlook for its financial second half and beyond, as it reported a slightly widened pretax loss for the first half amid a continued marketing drive for its food ingredient Fruitflow.
Shares in Provexis were down 14% at 0.297 pence Tuesday morning.
For the half year to end-September the company reported a pretax loss of GBP228,447, widened slightly from GBP207,542, as a rise in revenue to GBP40,908 from GBP8,261 was offset by higher research and development costs.
During the half year Provexis' partner DSM Nutritional Products continued to roll-out Fruitflow with its customers, which helped drive revenue. Additionally, in June, Provexis agreed "significantly enhanced" financial terms on its agreement with DSM for Fruitflow, which it said will boost its ongoing profit share from the agreement going forward.
Following the half-year end, Provexis inked a deal with the University of Oslo to undertake further research into the relationship between Fruitflow and blood pressure regulation. Key results from the first stage of this work have been "very encouraging", the company said, and it is now proceeding on to the second stage.
Additionally, Provexis has been working towards launching a dietary supplement containing Fruitflow and Omega-3, which it expects to provide it with an additional revenue and profit stream. It plans to launch this product "as soon as possible".
"The first six months of the year have seen a number of very positive developments for the business, and with the company's low operational costs we are well positioned to drive value for shareholders. We remain positive about the outlook for the business for the second half of the year and beyond," Provexis said in a statement.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
