LONDON (Alliance News) - Pipehawk PLC's pretax loss narrowed in the first half of its financial year, the company said on Thursday, as it said it looks well positioned for growth in the second half.
Pipehawk, which makes electronic systems used in land mine and utilities detection, said its pretax loss for the six months to the end of December narrowed to GBP142,000 from GBP244,000 a year earlier. Revenue was broadly flat at GBP2.6 million, but the loss was narrowed by a fall in administrative expenses.
QM Systems, its electronic system design and manufacturing business, saw good order intake in the half, with a healthy order book and sales pipeline in place going into the second half. Pipehawk said it has continued to increase staff numbers in the business, allowing it to remove the majority of externally contracted resources the company had used in the previous financial year.
Pipehawk said it has continued developing its ground-probing radar product range and has seen good interest in its e-Safe and e-Spade detection lines.
It added its Adien utility detection and mapping business has been trading within a competitive market, with a key contract due in the fourth quarter delayed into 2015. It also said SUMO, a utility mark out services company in which Pipehawk holds a 28% stake, generated a small profit as it works on consolidating recent acquisitions.
Shares in Pipehawk were up 6.7% to 4.00 pence on Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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PipeHawk (PIP)