Internet incubator Durlacher announced a pre-tax loss of £13.9m for the six months to 31 December 2000 as a result of net write offs and provisions of £13 million in its investment portfolio.
Shares in the company fell by almost 13 per cent to 13.75p upon the news. Durlacher had warned in December that it would report a substantial loss for the second half of the year. The company will not pay a dividend for the period.
The company reported revenue of £6.7m for the year, almost half the £11.6m pounds reported for 1999. Total net assets at December 31 were £34m, compared to £31.7 the previous year.
The group reported that £15m of gross proceeds was raised by means of convertible debentures issued to institutional investors. A further tranche of £15m is expected to close shortly. The company also advised that it had made significant progress in nothing-ventured.com, its online broking firm and expects to continue European expansion on schedule into Germany, Spain and Holland.
Commenting on the results and the company's portfolio valuation approach in particular, Geoffrey Chamberlain, chairman and chief executive of Durlacher, said: “The valuation information provided today will give investors a clearer but still conservative picture of the Group’s investee portfolio. This level of information will be provided in all future results announcements. In particular, the significant valuation uplift demonstrates the strong potential within our investments which flows from our high quality research led approach.”
As reported earlier on PEO, Durlacher today also announced a joint venture agreement with bmp AG for the establishment of a new vehicle to invest in life sciences in the UK.
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