First half losses grow at Provexis

Medical food and dietary supplement developer Provexis disappointed investors with widened losses for the six months ended 30 September. The share price fell 23.08% to 1.75p by 13:05.The losses, which grew from £1m to £1.5m, came despite revenues doubling from £0.7m to £1.5m after costs rose significantly. Chief executive Stephen Moon said: "Both SiS and Fruitflow provide significant opportunities for the company. In order to focus on these opportunities the board has taken the decision to wind down the research and development work on the NSP#3G plantain extract technology and to review the cardiovascular inflammation projects, although we retain certain intellectual property rights for these and other technologies.""Substantial focus is being given to building a platform for significant growth in SiS, both in the UK and overseas markets, given the potential of the brand and the macro-growth in the sports nutrition sector. Recent cutbacks in the pipeline have reduced underlying expenditure, in order to invest correctly in the two strategic priorities and to help preserve cash.Cash at the end of the period fell from £6.3m to £2.8m. Losses per share rose from 0.09p to 0.10p. A dividend payment was not proposed. NR