8th Mar 2019 09:17
LONDON (Alliance News) - IT equipment distributor Northamber PLC held its interim dividend Friday despite profit and revenue falling amid a refocusing of the business and lost sales after a contract issue.
For the six months ended December, pretax loss widened 76% to GBP353,000 from GBP201,000 the year prior. This was after revenue fell 24% to GBP24.2 million from GBP31.7 million the year before.
Revenue performance suffered after the firm refocused on its core business. Gross margins, however, widened to 8.4% from 7.6% after it reduced overheads.
Performance also was hurt by a supplier for a "significant new product area" for Northamber breached its contract, resulting in "lost sales and contribution". Northamber has taken "swift" legal action and has already secured replacement vendors sales from this is expected to begin arriving in the second half of the year.
"My comments in previous statements, especially those made in recent years, have tended to be cautionary, which by and large has been borne out in actual outcomes," David Phillips, Northamber's founder & board chair.
Northamber proposed a 0.1 pence per share interim dividend, unchanged on the year prior.
"As regards the current underlying trading position, the state of the economy at large, the extremely and damaging fluid Brexit scenario, and the associated effects on our own sector offers, offer no greater incentive for optimism now than they have in the past," Phillips added. "Our continued focus on the new higher margin value categories continues to be an area we are confident and excited about, and where we see our future opportunities."
Shares in Northamber were 3.7% lower at 28.40 pence on Friday.
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