LONDON (ShareCast) - Oil explorer Global Petroleum said during the six months ended 31 December 2007 pre-tax losses narrowed to A$6.5m from A$9.3m last time.

The loss includes a write-down in relation to the Kenya project of $7.9m and a gain of A$2.1m in relation to the sale of a parcel of Falkland Oil and Gas shares

The group holds 20% interest in Kenyan blocks L-5 and L-7. One of the well has been drilled by operator Woodside but the other well may not be drilled by the due date.

“Global has written to Woodside advising that if the well is not drilled, Woodside will be in breach of its obligations under the Farm-in Agreement,” it said.

Messaging services provider Messaging International jumped ahead after it signed an agreement with US communications firm Quest to launch its Text-to-Landline service.

The service will allow Qwest customers to create and send text messages to Qwest and other home phones.

“This is another hugely exciting deal for TeleMessage and reiterates the importance of the Text-to-Landline technology we have developed,” said the group.

Philippines gold miner Medusa Mining slipped into interim pre-tax losses of $1.5m versus profits of A$7.2m last time. Revenue fell to A$6m from A$13.9m previously.

The group added that benefits of the expansion are currently on track and will start to flow through in the third quarter.

IT Software and Services company eg solutions announced three new contract wins, which have been secured within the first trading month of the 2008 financial year.

• News Channel