18th Jun 2014 10:09
LONDON (Alliance News) - Amphion Innovations PLC Wednesday posted a narrowed pretax loss despite seeing revenue decline in 2013, benefiting from lowered administrative costs.
Amphion is a private equity firm that focuses on investments in the medical and technology sectors, as well as intellectual property.
The company posted a pretax loss of USD6.4 million, narrowed slightly from USD6.9 million in 2012, even as revenue declined to USD1.0 million from USD1.4 million, after administrative expenses were significantly reduced .
Administrative expenses were USD3.6 million, down from USD7.8 million, helped by lower expenses at Amphion's subsidiary DataTern Inc, which is appealing a ruling in its legal battle with SAP AG and Microsoft Corp.
The companies took action against DataTern over two database patents, after DataTern accused their end-users of patent infringement, and Microsoft sought to have the patents declared invalid. In December 2012 the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered DataTern to stop suing customers of SAP.
DataTern appealed the New York ruling, claiming it lacked jurisdiction, and the claim on its patents was flawed. The Court of Appeals broadly ruled in favour of its position in April.
Amphion's net asset value per share shrank to 6 pence as at December 31, down from 8 pence a year earlier, as it saw further reductions to the carrying value of several of its investments.
The flotation of its partner company Kromek was an important step forward, it said. Kromek raised GBP15 million in its IPO last November, and following the IPO was able to pay down loans, including USD750,000 owed to Amphion.
Amphion holds a 10.6% stake in Kromek. Amphion expects the valuation of Kromek to rise "considerably" as it makes further progress, it said.
During the year the company contributed USD521,370 to its portfolio companies, mostly in convertible loans during 2013.
Amphion said that whilst it remained cautious in its outlook, the recovery in the stock market and initial public offering market in particular had led to an improvement in the overall climate for its business.
"Progress by Kromek will be a key driver of such a recovery, but developments within DataTern and the other partner companies will be equally important," the company said in a statement.
Share in Amphion Innovations were trading up 7.8% at 3.10 pence Wednesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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