Things have been getting steadily worse at accounting software specialist Pegasus Group Plc, and the company now says that it will incur trading losses in the five months to December 31 things are confused because the company is in process of changing its trading year: it says that it will see a small loss at the trading level over the current 17-month financial period, but that the sale of 25% of Stockforms Ltd to Deluxe Corp gave rise to an exceptional gain of ?1.25m so that the overall out-turn will show a pre-tax profit; it is taking steps to reduce costs and defer expenditure in line with anticipated launch dates of new products but further uncertainty is caused by the news that Jonathan Hubbard-Ford has relinquished his duties as chief executive because of a clash of management styles, and a sucessor is being sought; cash balances at the end of November 1992 are expected to be some ?2.5m after taking account of the payment for the new Sequel software accounting the company just bought; the shares plunged 42 pence to 86 pence on the news, but with cash in the balance sheet worth 50 pence a share and with the prospect for further payments from disposals next year, the price slump may have been overdone.
