TechMARK movers: Parity halves profit expectations

IT services provider Parity shocked the market when it said that 2009 profits will be £300,000 lower than expected. Parity also said that it is not changing its expectations for 2010. Arbuthnot was expecting profits of £650 in 2009 so the outcome will be little more than one-half that figure. Parity published an interim management statement less than three weeks ago. Since then, the company has realised that the growth of its IT consulting and projects business will not be as fast as hoped. Clients have not made decisions as quickly as expected. This division should still return to profit this year but it will not be as high as envisaged. The recruitment division is trading in line with expectations. Profits of £950,000 are forecast for 2010. Bookmaking technology developer Alphameric says that bid talks have come to an end. The potential bidder has no intention of making an offer. The talks were originally revealed on 13 August but there has never been any details about them. The shares closed at 27.25p each on the day before the talks were announced, so, despite today's fall, they remain higher than that. FTSE TechMARK - RisersTotal Systems (TTS) 25.50p +8.51%E2V Technologies (E2V) 60.50p +7.08%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 220.00p +4.76%Visonic (VSC) 67.50p +4.65%Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 11.75p +4.44%RM Group (RM.) 173.00p +4.22%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 274.00p +3.59%Alterian (ALN) 186.00p +3.33%Kofax (KFX) 194.00p +3.05%KCOM Group (KCOM) 46.00p +2.79%FTSE TechMARK - FallersParity Group (PTY) 13.00p -16.13%Alphameric (ALM) 29.50p -8.53%Innovation Group (TIG) 10.75p -7.05%Anite Group (AIE) 32.75p -3.68%CSR (CSR) 407.50p -2.98%Ark Therapeutics (AKT) 35.00p -2.78%Phytopharm (PYM) 12.00p -2.04%Puricore (PURI) 14.75p -1.67%Psion (PON) 86.00p -1.43%GB Group (GBG) 18.75p -1.32%