Northamber Plc’s results for the six months to October 31 showed a reduction in losses, although chairman David Philips harbours no illusions about a lightning recovery. Pre-tax losses were UKP54,000, down from UKP495,000 while turnover meanwhile, rose 0.8% to UKP45.7m. Phillips attributed most of the cut in losses to the closure of its Studley subsidiary in Ireland, which last year lost the firm over UKP1m. Other contributing factors include tightened credit controls, presumably so that dealers in danger of going under have less of a chance of taking Northamber stock with them. At least this time deprecation was down to UKP249,000 from UKP334,000 last time, meaning that the levels of stock held by the company are lower, indicating that it has increased efficiency on its stock control operations. Despite the upturn following the dumping of its Irish ballast, Phillips lamented increased competition and gross margins down on last time. As usual, the Chessington firm is not paying an interim dividend.
