Leeds-based W H Ireland still in the red
W H Ireland, the financial services group with an office in Leeds, has announced a pre-tax loss of £518,000 in its half-year results.
The figure, which covers the six months to 31 May 2010. is a slight improvement on the group’s losses for the same period last year. That's despite group revenue from continuing operations falling 41.6 per cent to £8.8m this year.
The group has attributed the loss primarily to “a large client who provided significant revenues in the first half of 2009 no longer participating in the market”.
The company also reported operating losses from continuing operations of £587,000 - a drop from last year’s operating profit of £287,000.
Rupert Lowe, chairman, said: “Managing a business during an economic downturn is always difficult but I firmly believe that we have now cut our cloth appropriately and, with further emphasis on increasing our revenues, we will be better positioned for a difficult or even benign market, and well positioned for any upturn."
A boardroom shake up was also announced as Paul Compton is to be appointed chief executive of the group from 6 September. Compton has 25 years’ experience in the small/mid cap sector, and will join the company from Toscafund Asset Management, the London-based hedge fund and asset manager.
Following his appointment as parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Lord Jonathan Marland also announced that he will step down from his position as non-executive director of the company with immediate effect.
The changes come after chief executive Richard Ford and finance director Nigel Gurney announced their departures from the company in May this year.
