Versarien Optimistic On Future As First Half Loss Widens

LONDON (Alliance News) - Versarien PLC Thursday said it continues to view its future with optimism, as it reported a widened pretax loss for its first half.

The engineering materials company reported a pretax loss of GBP839,000 for the half year to end-September, widened from a pretax loss of GBP296,000 a year before, mostly as a result of higher cost of sales and operating expenses. Revenue declined slightly to GBP2.4 million from GBP2.5 million.

Whilst the company saw revenue from its Thermal Products rise by GBP600,000, this was offset by a fall in Hard Wear Products revenue of GBP700,000, as a result of a decline in the oil and gas sector.

Operating expenses increased due to additional overheads from the company's acquisition of Custom Systems in February, and 2D-Tech Ltd in May of last year.

The company said that whilst the traction that is developing for its Thermal Product applications is promising, it is still "highly dependant" on customer's "time horizons" that are taking longer than first anticipated. Versarien said that its Hard Wear Products should continue to generate cash that will depend on an upturn in the oil and gas markets, and its ability to diversify into new markets.

Shares in Versarien were down 6.9% at 13.50 pence Thursday morning.

By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews

Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.