PhotonStar expects strong second half despite disappointing first
AIM-listed firm PhotonStar LED Group announced on Thursday that it had reduced its underlying losses by more than half in the six months leading to 30 June as a result of cost-cutting exercises aimed at lessening the impact of more challenging market conditions.
Bould Opportunities
0.02p
12:09 07/04/20
Electronic & Electrical Equipment
9,721.29
16:59 26/04/24
FTSE AIM All-Share
755.28
17:14 26/04/24
The UK based designer and manufacturer of smart LED lighting solutions said it was in the process of pivoting away from its previous business model of offering lighting to new build markets and would instead focus on retrofitting its Halcyon Internet of Things solution into existing buildings.
Revenues dropped 11% to £2.26m in PhotonStar's first half of trading.
Segmentally, lighting fixture revenue fell 15% to £1.36m and halcyon/light engines revenue dove 58% to £110,000, with contract manufacturing at the firm's Camtronics Vale subsidiary being the only unit to report growth, up 16% to £790,000.
Overall, the group posted a loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of £230,000, against the £540,000 it had posted a year earlier while narrowing pre-tax losses from £910,000 to £600,000.
Cash and equivalents dropped from the £247,000 it had on hand as of 30 June 2016 to hold £95,000 a year later, as net debt rose from £680,000 to £810,000.
PhotonStar said it would be focusing on improving its Halcyon system in the second half of the year, and had already seen significant improvements in all of its business units in the third quarter.
"Management remain confident about the market potential for the halcyonPRO2 and its halcyon cloudBMS platform. Progress has been slower than anticipated on finalising the cloudBMS product to customer requirements and it is now expected that this will occur in Q4 2017; however, several new trials for the halcyon cloudBMS platform are now underway which should result in further roll out contracts during 2018," said James McKenzie, chief executive of PhotonStar.
As of 0910 BST, shares had dropped 27.93% to 0.800p.