TechMARK movers: Loss warning from Parity

IT services provider Parity Group says that its core business has lost money on fixed-price contracts and it needs to reduce costs to be competitive. Parity says it plans to withdraw from large fixed-price projects. Parity expects to report a first half operating loss of £1m including the costs of an over-running project. The board expects a smaller operating loss in the second half. There will also be exceptional reorganisation costs of £1.5m. There could be further property costs from the administration of the company's former training business. Cost reductions should be completed within three months and the full benefit will show through next year. The interim results will be published at the end of August. Software provider Microgen's interim figures were received more positively. The announcement of a tender offer to buy back £10m worth of shares helped. Revenue from continuing operations rose from £13.6m to £16.1m in the six months to June 2010. Pre-amortisation profit improved from £2.49m to £3.81m. The interim dividend was increased 12.5% to 0.9p a share. There was net cash of £23m at the end of June 2010 and £10m of that will be spent on tendering for shares for between 80p and 90p a share. FTSE TechMARK - RisersAntisoma (ASM) 6.00p +6.19%Microgen (MCGN) 87.00p +6.10%COLT Group S.A. (COLT) 135.30p +4.40%Timeweave (TMW) 25.00p +4.17%Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 9.88p +3.89%ProStrakan (PSK) 73.00p +2.82%Ricardo Group (RCDO) 242.00p +2.76%Torotrak (TRK) 21.75p +2.35%Phytopharm (PYM) 7.75p +1.57%Psion (PON) 77.25p +1.31%FTSE TechMARK - FallersParity Group (PTY) 8.75p -7.89%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,691.00p -6.73%Sinclair Pharma (SPH) 27.50p -4.35%Puricore (PURI) 56.00p -4.27%Optos (OPTS) 98.00p -3.45%Electronic Data Processing (EDP) 45.00p -3.33%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 230.00p -2.95%Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 166.00p -2.78%Innovation Group (TIG) 11.25p -2.17%Triad Group (TRD) 24.00p -2.08%Alterian (ALN) 145.00p -2.03%