As Omnimedia Plc nears the end of its second year of a three plan to establish itself as a leading multimedia publisher, the Kingston, Surrey-based company reported reduced interim losses and was recently admitted to London’s Alternative Investment Market having raised ú2.3m from a placing of 3.6m new shares in April (CI No 2,641). Net and pre-tax losses for the six months to June 30 were ú279,137, down from ú421,354 last time, on turnover up 61% at ú199,962. The company released its first music video CD product, Sade’s Life, Pride, promises, Love and also released a title by The the, both licensed from Sony Music Entertainment. Its first children’s CD-ROM, The Treasure Hunt was released in the half, and will be followed by The Greatest Toyshop on Earth in November. Omnimedia is also working on a proprietary Video CD Plus technology that includes its patented decompression technology (CI No 2,696). It has also developed OmniScape Internet Interface, to download text and graphics from the Internet. The company is intending to sell its Video CD authoring software to other content owners and developers to expand the format’s popularity. The first authoring software should be available by the year-end, the company said. Omnimedia will pay no interim dividend.
