Stanley Gibbons has acquired first day cover stamps and collectibles business Benham from the flowers and gifts retailer, Flying Brands for £1.5m. Benham produced a full-year revenue of £2.96m for Flying Brands in its last full-year results, with a pre-tax profit of £0.41m. Stanley Gibbons' Chief Executive, Mike Hall noted that "commemorative collectible products linked to the London Olympics 2012 are expected to deliver some substantial one-off revenues to the business." Australian biodegradeable plastics outfit Plantic Technologies saw net losses widen to A$15.09m, from A$5.7m the year before in the half year ending 30 June.While Plantic's revenues rose from A$0.7m to A$1.1m, it incurred a fixed asset impairment charge of A$9.8m. Volga Gas, the energy company operating in the Volga region of Russia, posted a US$1.8m increase in revenue for the first half of 2010 (US$5.2m) compared to the year before (US£3.4m).Chief Executive, Mikhail Ivanov commented: "I am very pleased with our production operations in the first half of the year during which time we had to deal with significant disruption to our oil sales from the Uzenskoye field due to adverse weather conditions."The net loss was recorded at US$0.2m for the six months ended 30 June 2010, an improvement on last year's loss for the same period of US$0.6m.The group also improved upon its loss before tax of US$0.22m in the first half of 2009, posting a pre-tax profit of US$0.18m.Somero Enterprises, the manufacturer of concrete placing equipment and associated machinery, narrowed losses to US$1.09m in the six months ended 30 June 2010 from US$1.28m the year before.Consolidated revenues for the first half of 2010 were 20.1% down (US$10.7m) from last year's results for the same period (US$13.4m). Somero's President and Chief Executive Officer, Jack Cooney, said: "We are pleased with the company's first half performance. Although the company experienced only modest growth over the period in North America and Europe, we are encouraged by some early signs of improving market conditions in the emerging markets where we continue to make good progress."South African-based investor Blackstar Group, reported a half year pre-tax profit of £2.6m to 30 June 2010 compared to a pre-tax loss of £8.83m for the same period in 2009. The group - involved in the South African military, defense, safety and security industry - also posted a revenue increase from £62m for the period last year to £106.1m this year. Of this, KMG Steel Service Centres (Pty) Ltd () contributed £88.6m and Ferro Industrial Products (Pty) Ltd (where Blackstar has a 54% shareholding) £17.5m.Steel supplier KMG, in which Blackstar holds an 87% interest, delivered improved volumes of 93,026 tons for the period, up 8% from 86,109 tons last year, and gross profit margin increased by 2.8% to 19.5%. Colour and coatings supplier Ferro's sales increased by 5.8% to £17.5m compared to the first half of 2009. Cost reductions, including reduced imported raw material prices, along with the increased sales volumes, resulted into a 'satisfactory' year on year growth in profit.Specialist car distributor Autologic saw a 57.1% increase in pre-tax profit for the half year to 30 June 2010. Higher activity in the UK market lifted pre-tax profits rose from £0.7m for the first half of 2009, to £1.1m for the same period this year. Revenue was up 2.2% to £68.9m in what the chief executive, Avril Palmer-Baunack, called "a difficult macro-economic environment". Along with the car scrappage scheme which started in May 2009 and finished in March 2010 (providing additional volume through to the end of the period), the group saw a 20% rise in new car registrations and a 55% increase in new car production for the first half, compared to the first half last year. Palmer-Baunack commented: "The first half of 2010 was underpinned by the scrappage scheme in the UK, which although substantially finished by March 2010, provided additional volume through to the end of the period. This allowed the Group to produce a solid trading performance and we are pleased with the financial results for the half year."
