Riva Group Plc is in the process of turning itself from a hardware to a software-oriented company on the continent – a move already made in the UK – as a result of which it has had to take some hefty hits to its figures, and will pay no dividend this year. The Westhoughton, Lancashire-based point-of-sales systems provider said that the combination of improved UK profits and reduced European losses resulted in it breaking even from underlying trading, but this was offset by restructuring and other charges related to staff and management changes. Riva made a pre-tax loss of ú600,000, down from ú2.2m losses last time. Profits from the UK of around ú1m were offset by continuing losses of a similar amount from France, Denmark and Spain. But Riva is keeping faith there as its sees the trio as lucrative distribution channels. The decline in turnover has been halted, and it rose by 7% to ú58.0m, with a squeeze on overheads resulting in them being lower than in 1993, despite the increase in activity. The refinancing arrangements, finalised in December (CI No 2,573), resulted in gains totalling ú1.1m, after ú200,000 costs, due to a ú1.3m debt waiver. The company has cut its roster of bankers to two from five, one of which, the Co-Operative Bank, also contributed ú100,000 to shareholders funds from a rights issue. Riva will launch its Power Till and Power Store Windows-based retail applications in Europe later in the year, having been released in the UK earlier this year. The UK business will continue to profit from its retail applications written for Windows for Workgroups, said Giles, for which its has already won contracts from British Telecommunications Plc and British Gas Plc, among others. Riva has managed to improve its gearing through a cut in its bank borrowings to ú600,000 from ú4.5m from the refinancing, with total borrowings falling to ú2.8m from ú7.0m.Chairman Peter Giles said that he would be happy with figures from Europe this year at or around break even, which with the UK fi gures would give overall profits, but he would make no firm predictions.
