Spice hit by gas implosion

Shares in support services group Spice tumbled again as it revealed a huge loss a write-off of its social housing gas business.A £42.9m write-down sent the billings group into a loss of £31.5m in the half year to October. Revenue was broadly unchanged at £193.4m and underlying operating profits rose to £21.8m from £17.5m. The interim dividend rises by 11% to 0.4p."The Supply Division and Utilities facing Distribution business have both performed strongly and are well placed to capitalise on their strong market positions as illustrated by contract wins with Scottish Power and being selected as preferred bidder by United Utilities. This is likely to give rise to start up costs in the second half of the year," chief executive Simon Rigby said."Market conditions have been, and are likely to remain, challenging for the Group's Gas social housing business and the board has taken decisive action including recording a non cash impairment charge in these results," he added. Spire Healthcare