LONDON (Alliance News) - Pipehawk PLC said Monday its interim loss widened on higher costs amid increased investment, despite revenue jumping over a quarter.
For the six months ended December, the electrical engineering firm's pretax loss widened to GBP164,000 from GBP118,000 the year prior. This was despite revenue rising 26% to GBP2.9 million from GBP2.3 million the year before.
Profit performance was held back by the non-recurrence of a GBP143,000 profit on the sale of a joint venture stake, received the year prior. It also was affected by a 13% jump in staff costs to GBP1.5 million and a 28% rise in general administrative costs to GBP1.5 million.
Pipehawk does not pay a dividend.
"The increase in turnover has been effectively offset in the period by increased recruitment and staff costs at QM Systems to service the Cox Powertrain Ltd and Penso (UK) Ltd orders, as previously announced by the company, coupled with increased R&D spend and marketing activity at Thomson Engineering Design," Pipehawk Chair Gordon Watt said.
"However," Watt added, "we are now very well placed for the second half of the financial year with full order books in all parts of the business and are fully staffed to deliver thereon."
Shares in Pipehawk were 2.4% higher at 5.07 pence on Monday.
PipeHawk (PIP)