Date: Thursday 14 Feb 2008
LONDON (ShareCast) - The housing market has weakened since June last year, residential property company Mountview Estates said in a trading update.
Mountview said its purchasing activity had continued strengthening, with purchases in the nine months to the end of last year totalling £40m. It added that it bought the Magdalen Park Estate in Earlsfield, London, last month for £43m.
Diamond exploration firm KimCor said construction work for the upgrade of the SMI4 tailing reprocessing project in South Africa is on schedule, with commissioning set to start at the end of February 2008.
The group said production levels at Nooitgedacht alluvial mine are being increased fourfold. It has commissioned a new plant, while the existing plant is going through its on-going expansion.
Commenting on progress, Martyn Churchouse CEO of KimCor said: “We are pleased with the progress being made across all of our operations. The SMI4 plant should be back production by the end of February, and the additional pans will increase production to 100,000tpm.”
Tadpole Technology said it is evaluating alternative options to its current funding plans as it has not received the necessary commitments from potential placees due to unfavourable market conditions.
Operating results for the three months to 31 December were broadly in line with expectations. Revenues were significantly higher due to increased licensing fees, but the operating loss was only slightly lower than last year due to a 43% rise in operating expenses.
IT company Triad said it has replaced business lost due to delays and cancellations in IT development projects during last year’s market turmoil, but is continuing to see a slowdown in its resourcing business.
“We continue to trade comfortably within the financial facilities available to us,” chairman John Rigg said. Triad continues to develop niche sectors within the resourcing business, he said.
ICT solution provider AT Communications has been awarded the status of approved supplier for third party telecoms maintenance by OGCbuying.solutions.
The deal gives the group access to the public sector telecoms market, which is valued at £85m per annum, it said.
Energy efficiency group Sabien Technology saw sales for the first half fall to £500,000 against last year's £579,000. Pre-tax losses increased to £347,000, which was in line with internal forecasts, from £138,000 previously.
Despite the results, the group said it has experiencing increased interest and orders in its product range sufficient to deliver higher levels of turnover than in the first half. “Therefore the board remains confident that the full year result will demonstrate growth over the year as a whole,” it added.
