TechMARK movers: Parity goes back to the future

Shares in Parity have lost more than one-fifth of their value after chief executive Alwyn Welch announced that he was stepping down.Paul Davies is returning as chief executive of the IT training and staffing company. He held the position between 1994 and 1999. Parity's founder Philip Swinstead is returning to the board for a second time. He is taking over as chairman. Trading has been volatile and the General Election delayed some contracts. Public sector demand is uncertain but the private sector is more positive. There is likely to be a loss in the first half of 2010 even before the costs of restructuring the board. Swinstead says that Parity needs to reduce debt and move into profit. A reduction in trade debtors has already helped to reduce net debt so far this year. There are few risers on TechMARK today but there was a positive reaction to Sinclair Pharma's trading statement. Underlying, like-for-like sales growth for the second half to June 2010 is expected to be approximately 7%. The group also made cost savings of over £1.5m on an annualised basis. Overall gross margin is improving as restructuring benefits flow through the supply chain, it said.FTSE TechMARK - RisersVectura Group (VEC) 37.00p +2.78%E2V Technologies (E2V) 53.00p +1.92%Sinclair Pharma (SPH) 28.00p +1.82%Corin Group (CRG) 60.00p +1.69%COLT Telecom Group S.A. (COLT) 120.70p +1.00%Alphameric (ALM) 28.00p +0.90%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 253.00p +0.70%FTSE TechMARK - FallersParity Group (PTY) 6.75p -22.86%Ark Therapeutics (AKT) 9.00p -8.91%Optos (OPTS) 120.00p -7.69%Ricardo Group (RCDO) 270.25p -6.81%Vislink (VLK) 19.25p -6.10%Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 9.76p -4.78%Renovo Group (RNVO) 24.50p -3.92%XP Power (XPP) 538.50p -3.84%Trafficmaster (TFC) 41.50p -3.49%BATM Advanced (BVC) 23.75p -3.06%