LONDON (Alliance News) - Software and services company Scisys PLC Thursday said it is confident it will meet its revised guidance for its full year, as it reported a swing to a pretax loss in its first half, hit by the strength of sterling and issues with an errant project.
Scisys said that resolving issues on the project remains its short-term priority, and that it has made constructive progress with the client, which it didn't name.
The company had issued a profit warning in June in relation to the project, and at that time warned it would report a "substantial short-fall in profits" compared to its previous guidance of a flat performance compared to 2014.
In the half year to end-June, Scisys reported a pretax loss of GBP1.2 million, swung from a pretax profit of GBP1.3 million a year before, as revenue fell to GBP16.5 million from GBP21.2 million.
Revenue was hit not only by the large project, which has incurred "substantial losses", but by slow order intake during the first few months. However, on-going projects have performed well, and its Enterprise Solutions & Defence division has since won several contracts, which Scisys said will help secure revenues for the remainder of 2015 and in 2016 and beyond.
Scisys said its markets remain tough, but it is confident of winning several new projects in its second half, citing an encouraging pipeline of projects "which bodes well for a sustained recovery."
The company has opted to suspend payment of an interim dividend, but said it was reserving its position regarding the level of its full-year dividend.
Shares in Scisys were down 4.4% at 66.00 pence Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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