Starcom's interim losses widen as revenues remain flat

Remote tracking company Starcom turned in a first-half loss on Tuesday on the back of flat revenues and increased research and development, marketing and administration costs.

Pre-tax losses widened 6.25% to $510,000, while sales were stable at $3.1m. Recurring software-as-a-service revenues grew 1.12% to $900,000.

However, Starcom did swing from an underlying loss of $40,000 to an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $75,000.

Gross margins meanwhile ticked up from 40% to 41%.

Chief executive Avi Hartmann said: "Although the first half revenues were in line with the equivalent period last year, we are confident that, based on the company's current sales pipeline, the second half of the year will show an improvement over the second half of 2018.

"It is pleasing to note that we achieved a positive EBITDA result for the period and we expect that this will also be the case for the full year."

Elsewhere, Starcom's chief executive noted that initial orders for its new Lokies smart padlock were "encouraging" and stated the group had "high expectations" for the new product.

As of 0950 BST, Starcom shares had slumped 5.42% to 1.14p.