30th Sep 2015 11:30
LONDON (Alliance News) - Graphene NanoChem PLC on Wednesday reported a slightly widened pretax loss for the first half of 2015, as it worked to refocus its business on higher-margin products in the wake of the world oil price decline.
The nanochemicals and advanced materials company reported a pretax loss of GBP3.7 million for the half year to end-June, only a little widened from a pretax loss of GBP3.5 million a year before, despite revenue dropping significantly to GBP7.0 million from GBP20.4 million, as a result of lower cost of sales.
The company said it had anticipated the decline in revenue as it undertook an overall rationalisation of its business to focus on a suite of higher-margin products. It progressively exited its low-margin fuel additives business throughout the period as margins continued to narrow with the collapse of oil prices.
In June the company indicated it was reviewing options to raise funds in order to continue developing its performance chemicals and performance materials businesses.
"This has been a period of further growth for the group, as we continue our focus on executing opportunities in higher-margin products within the performance chemical and material businesses with growth potential that would contribute to a stronger bottom line for the group," said Chief Executive Officer Jespal Deol in a statement.
"We have made good progress despite the challenging market conditions, and we will continue to focus on our strategy for growth in securing sales through our partnership model whilst continuing to manage our cost base to ensure sustained growth for the business," Deol added.
Shares in Graphene Nanochem were down 8.5% at 14.18 pence Wednesday afternoon.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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