LONDON (Alliance News) - Semiconductor technology company Toumaz Ltd on Tuesday said its pretax loss widened in the first half due to higher administrative costs. While revenue increased, the group said its revenue for the full year is likely to be lower than originally anticipated.
Toumaz said its full-year revenue will fall below its original expectations due to slow progress in its healthcare business, where it makes the SensiumVitals wearable vital-signs monitoring system. Though the system has been deployed into the UK National Health Service and international hospitals, Toumaz said it is taking longer than expected to "for the economic case to be made conclusively", or to convince clients that the cost of installing and operating the devices is outweighed by the benefits it offers.
Following the revenue warning, Toumaz shares were down 13% in early trade on Tuesday to 2.5 pence per share, one of the worst performers in the AIM All-Share.
Toumaz's pretax loss widened to GBP10.7 million in the first half to the end of June, against GBP7.5 million, as a total rise in revenue to GBP14.0 million from GBP10.8 million was offset by a surge in administrative costs in the half. The group has implemented an overhead reduction plan and said its research and development spending has now peaked, meaning costs should fall in the second half.
Revenue from the group's digital audio business, which represents the vast majority of its sales, was up 33% in the half, and the business turned earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation positive. It also expects a strong performance from the unit in the second half, albeit not enough to offset the slower-than-expected healthcare revenue.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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