Scholium aiming for full-year growth after booking interim loss

Rare book dealer Scholium pencilled in a "small" first-half loss on Wednesday due to the trading loss in its Mayfair Philatelics stamp collecting arm, which started trading a year ago.

The six-month period ended 30 September the company’s performance was in line with board expectations and a strong second half of the year is expected to see the company improve on its showing from last year.

Mayfair is expected to contribute to this as three of its four annual auctions are in the second half of the year and costs of the first one of these, which took place in early October, have already been covered in the first half.

Jasper Allen, chairman of Scholium, said: "We are pleased that the group has performed in line with the board's expectations in the first half and look forward in due course to delivering an improved group performance compared to the year ended 31 March 2018. The October Mayfair Philatelics auction was a good start to the second half of the year."

Meanwhile, the company’s other two businesses, Shapero Rare Books and Scholium Trading, are expected to have performed broadly in line with their performance in the half year to 30 September 2017.

Scholium’s shares were unchanged at 46.00p at 0848 BST.