Shares in London screen dealing firm Patsystems have jumped on news that it expects to break even for the first half of the year after posting a Q2 trading profit of £300,000, boosted by increased revenues and lower costs.
Patsystems stock rose 16.60% in morning trading to 14.00 pence after the firm released a pre-close update saying it expects to report a trading profit of approximately £300,000 for the second quarter ending 30 June 30th, compared to losses of around £350,000 for Q2 last year.
Second quarter exceptional costs amount to around £175,000, comprising final R&D costs of the vendor's new TradeMark platform and legal fees relating to the Trading Technologies patent issue, which was settled in May.
The vendor says trading profit for the half year is expected to be approximately break even compared with a trading loss of £782,000 in the first half of 2004.
First half 2005 pre-tax and interest loss is expected to be £550,000-£600,000, compared to a first half loss of £1,850,000 in 2004. The improvements are a result of increased revenues combined with a sustained reduction in costs.
Patsystems says starting in June 2005 it has a total cost base (including depreciation and amortisation) of just under £3 million per quarter, down from £3.7 million in mid-2004, and revenues of over £3 million, before launches of new products or new client contracts.
The firm expects to release its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2005 in early August.