LONDON (Alliance News) - Eastbridge Investments PLC on Thursday said its pretax loss narrowed in 2015 after the GBP11.9 million exceptional charge it incurred in 2014 did not repeat.
Eastbridge posted a pretax loss of GBP432,000 for 2015 from the GBP12.2 million loss recorded in 2014 when the company was hit by a GBP12.3 million impairment relating to its investment in a subsidiary.
The company noted its plans during the year to acquire US-lender Privilege Wealth PLC, which has developed technology to provide and manage lines of credit and short term loans, first tabled in January.
However, on Thursday, said, in light of the limited progress that has been made in respect of the acquisition of Privilege and the short time remaining until the company is liable to be cancelled from trading on AIM, the directors have agreed with the owners of Privilege that negotiations with Privilege regarding the potential reverse transaction are terminated and that the company is pursuing an unnamed alternative proposal.
Eastbridge noted that it has revised its investment policy and, once approved by shareholders, will deploy GBP3.2 million of new investment, in a range of low-risk equity and debt instruments issued by banks and other financial service providers. Eastbridge said this will be uses as a cornerstone of its investment portfolio, and it intends further funds to be raised later in the year to add to the portfolio.
Shareholders will vote at the company's annual general meeting on July 6.
Shares in Eastbridge were untraded on Thursday, having last traded at 0.500 pence.
By Hannah Boland; hannahboland@alliancenews.com; @Hannaheboland
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