1st Apr 2014 10:10
LONDON (Alliance News) - Getech Group PLC Tuesday said its pretax profit declined by 83% in the first half of its financial year as it was hit by a slowdown in spending by customers, but it said it was hopeful of a pickup in customer activity during the second half.
Getech, which provides data, studies and services to the oil, gas and mining sectors, said it made a GBP233,000 pretax profit for the six months to the end of January, compared with a GBP1.4 million profit for the corresponding period a year earlier.
Revenue fell to GBP3.1 million, from GBP4.0 million, due to "general restrictions on spending" by major exploration and production companies. Administrative costs were up by GBP54,000 to about GBP1.8 million.
Getech shares were down 9.8% at 59.10 pence Tuesday morning, one of the biggest declines on AIM.
Still, Chief Executive Stuart Paton said Getech is optimistic that first-half trading was a short-term blip.
"We start the second half of our year with strong cash balances and a substantial pipeline of sales opportunities. More importantly, the feedback from meetings early in 2014 suggests that not only do clients remain interested in our major products, but they now have budget available to spend," Paton said in a statement.
"The oil price has been, and is currently, above the corresponding prices last year and we do not see signs of it weakening. As such, we are optimistic that the trading performance in the first half represented a short term market-related issue and we remain confident about our medium and longer-term prospects," Paton added.
Getech increased its interim dividend to 0.44 pence, from 0.4 pence.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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